Blood Of The Immortal
by Bill K
Summary: Neo Sailor Moon and her senshi arrive in Elysian to find Helios missing.
1. Preliminaries

BLOOD OF THE IMMORTAL  
A Neo-Sailor Moon fanfic  
Chapter 1: "Preliminaries"  
  
By Bill K.  
  
-------------------------------------------------  
Sailor Moon and all related characters are (c)2002 by Naoko Takeuchi/  
Kodansha and Toei Animation and are used without permission, but with   
respect. Story is (c)2002 by Bill Kropfhauser.  
  
As always, for those only familiar with the English dub:  
  
Usagi=Serena  
Ami=Amy  
Rei=Raye  
Makoto=Lyta  
Minako=Mina  
Haruka=Amara  
Michiru=Michelle  
Setsuna=Trista  
Mamoru=Darien  
Chibi-Usa=Rini  
  
Finally, Haruka and Michiru are NOT cousins.  
--------------------------------------------------  
Usa and Hotaru sat on a bench on the promenade just outside of the   
business district of Crystal Tokyo. Each girl was dressed in a   
fashionably frilly blouse and short skirt, as was dictated by the   
fashion trends of 2996, Usa in yellows, whites and pinks while Hotaru,   
in a concession to her nagging friend, chose lavender and white rather   
than black. Each girl was indulging in her favorite reading material on   
the vid-screen of their hand-held computer - - Hotaru a first year high   
school chemistry text and Usa a manga. The sun shone down brightly on   
the promenade and the citizens of Crystal Tokyo were out and about,   
enjoying the bright summer day and the carefree existence that was   
Crystal Tokyo.  
  
As they read, many were the passersby who would notice them. Usa   
was the more eye-catching, due either to her fame as the princess or to   
the arresting beauty she possessed, a beauty that seemed to bloom more   
with each day, a beauty that seemed almost imposing. But enough eyes,   
usually male, were snared by her companion as well. They noticed   
Hotaru's petite attractiveness, her lovely face with its large soulful   
eyes, and the aura of innocence and kindness she radiated.  
  
Violet eyes peering over the top edge of the hand-held computer   
betrayed the fact that Hotaru had, in turn, noticed some of the males   
passing by.  
  
Red eyes glancing to the side betrayed the fact that her friend   
was aware of what she was doing.  
  
"He's cute, isn't he?" Usa murmured. Hotaru's eyes shot back to   
the video screen. "Don't be ashamed of looking," Usa grinned. "That's   
part of the reason why I come out here."  
  
"Obviously you don't come out here to concentrate," Hotaru sighed.   
"I was trying to read this, but there are too many distractions."  
  
"Yes, but they are gorgeous distractions, aren't they?" Usa sighed   
lustily. "If I weren't otherwise attached . . ." and her chest heaved,   
drawing several glances. "So how are you doing in your mind control   
class?"  
  
"That's the third time you've asked me that," Hotaru smiled, "and   
it's controlling your mental abilities, not 'mind control'."  
  
"Well, I want to be there in case you have trouble. Remember, I'm   
your sponsor and your guardian and your princess AND your best friend.   
That makes it my duty to look out for you."  
  
"I'll settle for best friend," Hotaru smirked. "The rest of it   
sounds like an awful lot of work for you. I'm adjusting. School's   
still a problem, though. There's been so many advances. Why, take   
these hand-held computers - - a thousand years ago these were just being   
pioneered and today everyone has one! And you can travel from here to   
North America in just ten minutes! And this strange fabric my clothes   
are made of - - I still can't believe it's recycled particle-beam   
communication filiment!"  
  
"Yeah," shrugged Usa, "but there's still nothing on cable."  
  
"And the medical advances," Hotaru continued to marvel. "Just   
skimming through the primary medical text Ami-san lent me made my head   
swim. If it weren't for her help," and Hotaru's voice trailed off.   
That caught Usa's attention. She glanced over and saw Hotaru staring.   
Following her line of vision, she saw what her friend was looking at.  
  
"Oh my goodness," grinned Usa as she looked at the youth. He was   
about six feet tall with thick black hair, piercing eyes and elegant   
good looks, and one of those taut, wiry bodies that were oh so   
versatile. At the moment, the youth was unaware they were looking at   
him.  
  
"He's beautiful," whispered Hotaru.  
  
"Want to meet him?" asked Usa.  
  
"OH, NO, I COULDN'T!" gasped Hotaru in intense mortification.  
  
"Come on," Usa encouraged her, grasping Hotaru by the wrist.   
"He's a good looking guy, you're a pretty girl - - it's a natural."  
  
"Usa, he doesn't even know me."  
  
"So? Everybody knows me and I know you, so I can introduce you!   
C'mon, you'll . . . OUCH!" Usa jerked her hand back.  
  
Hotaru's hand flew to her mouth. "Usa, I'm so sorry!"  
  
"Was that your mind thing?" Hotaru nodded, extremely upset.   
"Guess I pushed too hard, huh? You may have noticed I have a hard time   
taking 'no' for an answer." Usa looked back for the boy they were   
looking at. "Aw, he's gone now."  
  
"It just slipped out, Usa," Hotaru said, mortified. "I would   
never intentionally hurt you!"  
  
"I know that," Usa smiled warmly. "Hey, sometimes I need my hand   
slapped. It's a good lesson in manners."  
  
"Maybe you should let Ami-san look at that," Hotaru suggested.   
"You wouldn't want anything to spoil your trip to Elysian."  
  
"GAWD, NO!" gasped Usa. They got up and headed back for the   
palace. "I've been trying to will the days to go faster."  
  
"I know," twittered Hotaru. "Diana says you're going to strain   
something."  
  
"Yeah, well Diana forgets that I knew her when she was a clumsy   
kitten."  
  
"Race you back!" Hotaru yelled as she suddenly sprinted forward.  
  
"Cheater!" Usa called after her, struggling to catch up.  
* * * *  
"Come on, Minako!" whined Ves-Ves. "One move!"  
  
"That's 'Sensei Minako-sama', kiddo," Minako corrected, "and as I   
recall you four had all the moves you needed."  
  
Minako was in the gym with the Amazoness senshi, trying to teach   
them about what being a senshi entailed. She wore a daring gold   
jumpsuit made of Flexar poly-titanium mesh - - the metal weave fabric   
was both strong enough to withstand a low intensity laser blast and   
clingy enough to hug the contours of the form Minako so loved flaunting.   
Ves-Ves was clothed in form-hugging knit tights and a pullover shirt   
that was a size too big. Cere-Cere had opted for a floral mini-dress   
and pink leggings, while Jun-Jun favored light green harem pants and a   
midriff-baring peasant top and Palla-Palla wore a blue dress with puffed   
sleeves and very, very retro black imitation patent leather shoes.  
  
"Yeah, we kicked your ass pretty good way back when," smirked   
Ves-Ves. "But you never stop trying to improve. Otherwise, you   
stagnate."  
  
"Well, kid, you still have the manners of a rhino, but that   
actually made sense."   
  
"Rhino?" Ves-Ves questioned, perplexed. "What's that?"  
  
"OK, one move. Since you're so determined to imitate a rhino,   
charge me." Minako ever so slightly eased back into a ready position,   
but she didn't seem that concerned with defense.  
  
The corners of Ves-Ves' mouth turned up in a smirk. Instantly she   
charged her elder. When Ves-Ves was mere inches from Minako, the   
woman's hands snatched up the young girl's arm like a striking cobra,   
pivoted and threw her in a compact hip toss.  
  
Ves-Ves, though, twisted in mid-air and came to rest in a perfect   
hand stand, a feat of acrobatics that would have amazed anyone watching   
- - except, of course, her three fellow amazons. However, before she   
could launch herself back at Minako, the blonde swept the girl's arms   
out from under her with a quick leg sweep and Ves-Ves crashed to the   
floor on her face and shoulder.  
  
"I was thinking," began Jun-Jun to Cere-Cere.  
  
"Jun-Jun, do you mind?" grumbled her sister amazon. "I happen to   
be enjoying watching Ves-Ves get her head handed to her."  
  
"Our trip to Elysian is tomorrow," Jun-Jun continued, as if her   
sister hadn't said anything. "I'm wondering how Helios is going to   
receive us."  
  
Minako bent down to Ves-Ves.  
  
"Where was the move?" demanded Ves-Ves. "That was just a leg   
sweep! Everybody knows how to do that!"  
  
"The move was in anticipating your attacker wouldn't be stopped by   
your last move and counterattacking before the attacker has a chance,"   
chuckled Minako. "Of course, it's not a move that's readily apparent to   
a cocky little smart-ass." Ves-Ves glared daggers at her.  
  
"You think he might still be carrying a grudge?" Cere-Cere asked.  
  
"Usa did," Jun-Jun replied.  
  
"Usa carried the mother of all grudges. I still don't think she   
fully trusts us."  
  
"Then it's up to us not to give her reasons to mistrust us,"   
Jun-Jun advised.  
  
"Palla-Palla is going to ask if she can ride all the horsies when   
we get there," Palla-Palla announced. "There are so many pretty horsies   
there."  
  
"Another psychic flash?" Jun-Jun asked.  
  
Palla-Palla looked down with guilt. "The princess was thinking   
about her last time in El . . . Illy . . . the dreamy place,"   
Palla-Palla told them, "and Palla-Palla just happened to catch it."  
  
"You better watch it, tuning in on the princess's thoughts!"   
warned Cere-Cere.  
  
"Palla-Palla wasn't spying, honest!"  
  
"We know," Jun-Jun told her. "But that's something you have to   
stop doing, especially to her. If she finds out you did that, she may   
leave us behind."  
  
"Ahem!" Minako said. The three amazons snapped to attention and   
focused on her. "Since you're all obviously concentrating on your trip   
and not your lessons, we may as well call it a day."  
  
"Thank you, Sensei Minako-sama," Jun-Jun bowed.  
  
"Don't thank me," Minako replied with an ominous smirk. "It just   
means you're all going to work twice as hard next time. Now hit the   
road."  
  
The four scampered for the door.  
  
"Man, isn't she cool!" Ves-Ves was heard to exclaim.  
* * * *  
Queen Serenity sighed as she and King Endymion walked down the   
hall. Luna and Artemis trailed behind them. Both Luna and Endymion   
glanced at Serenity, recognizing a familiar gesture.  
  
"You're not going to start weeping again, are you?" jabbed Luna.  
  
"Oh, hush," grumbled Serenity. "My little girl's only been back a   
month and she's already going off again."  
  
"It was your idea to send her to Elysian," Endymion reminded her.  
  
"It'll be good for her. And it was necessary to show her that   
we're beginning to trust her judgment."  
  
"I agree," nodded Endymion. "I trust her judgment. And I trust   
Helios' judgment. It's just that I don't trust their judgment when   
they're both in the same room."  
  
"They need this time together. I remember what it was like being   
fifteen and not being with the man I loved. It's good for their   
relationship to spend some time together."  
  
"OK, but don't say anything if she comes back pregnant," Artemis   
cautioned.  
  
"Oh, you men!" fumed Serenity. "I trust my daughter." Serenity   
swallowed. "Really I do. Besides, she's practically taking half of   
Crystal Tokyo with her!"  
  
"Yes, she did promise to be on her honor," Endymion mused, then   
glanced at his wife. "I suppose she'll be all right - - as long as she   
doesn't dress up like a geisha." Serenity tried unsuccessfully to   
smother a laugh and covered her mouth.  
  
"Honestly, Your Majesty, you find the strangest things funny,"   
Luna said, eyeing her suspiciously.  
  
"Think they'll have any trouble getting there?" Artemis asked.  
  
"I don't see why," Endymion said. "After all, Usa went there all   
by herself that one time."  
  
"Yes, but she and the others have only done Sailor Teleport once.   
We all remember how that ended."  
  
"She'll manage," Serenity replied. "Honestly, I don't think   
there's anything that girl can't do - - except maybe be civil."  
  
"And whose fault is that?" Luna asked pointedly.  
  
"All right, I spoiled her. She's my baby and I can spoil her if I   
want." And she shot Luna a quick tongue. The black cat just shook her   
head in frustration.  
  
The quartet entered the reception room. Waiting there were Usa,   
Hotaru, Usa's senshi, Diana, and Serenity's senshi. Each traveler wore   
backpacks that contained a miniature power pack that generated a spatial   
warp inside the pack that allowed each one to carry the equivalent of   
the contents of two twentieth century suitcases. Everyone turned to   
face them as the royal couple entered the room. The Amazoness senshi   
instantly sank to one knee.  
  
"Oh, get up," fussed Serenity. "Oh, Usa, I'm going to miss you!"   
and she hugged her daughter.  
  
"Yeah, me too," Usa mumbled, shifting uncomfortably. She glanced   
over at the others to make sure no one was amused.  
  
"Did you pack your sonic dental rod?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"And you packed enough clothes?"  
  
"Uh huh."  
  
"And you've got the scroll for Helios?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Do you all remember how to teleport?"  
  
"Yes, Mother."  
  
"And you remember the way?"  
  
"Yes, Mother."  
  
"And . . ."  
  
"MOTHER!"  
  
"I know, I know. I'm fussing too much. I'll stop now."   
Impulsively, she grabbed her daughter's hands. "Just . . . promise me   
you'll be careful."  
  
"Mother, we're just going to Elysian!"  
  
"I know. It's just - - it's a really big universe out there and,   
and not everyone is a nice person."  
  
"Wow, when's the last time you ever heard the Queen say something   
like that?" Ves-Ves whispered to Jun-Jun.  
  
"Mama, we'll be fine," Usa sighed, holding Serenity's upper arms.  
  
"OK." Serenity lingered. "Are you sure you have your dental   
rod?"  
  
"MOTHER!"  
  
"Fine," Serenity huffed. "Oh, I can't until you have kids!"   
Makoto and Minako could be heard giggling. Rei cleared her throat   
loudly. "Um, not that you need to work on that this minute!"  
  
"Mother, if you're through humiliating me, can we go?" murmured   
Usa.  
  
Endymion grasped Serenity by the arms and gently pulled her away.   
He leaned in, kissed Usa on the cheek and whispered something in her   
ear. Usa rolled her eyes and kissed him back.  
  
Usa stuck her hand in the air and shouted, "Moon Prism Power Make   
Up!" while Hotaru and the amazons produced their henshin sticks and   
spoke their power phrases. When all were transformed, they formed a   
circle and clasped hands. Dust and wind began whipping around them,   
billowing their hair up into the air above them and billowing out their   
skirts. When the whirlwind around them seemed to reach a crescendo, the   
jewels on their tiaras began to glow. The beams met in the heart of the   
circle and seemed to make the upper white of their uniforms glow   
brilliantly.  
  
As one they all shouted "Sailor Teleport!" The light seemed to   
engulf them. When it dissipated, they were gone.  
  
"Be safe, my baby," Serenity whispered, tears welling in her eyes.  
  
Continued in part 2 


	2. The Chosen Target

BLOOD OF THE IMMORTAL  
Chapter 2: "The Chosen Target"   
  
By Bill K.  
  
In a grassy valley just steps away from a wooded glade that hid a   
pristine lake, a disturbance began to form. The wind began to swirl,   
softly at first, then harder and faster. The blades of grass, inches   
tall and thick and green, were pulled by the suction of the growing   
vortex and whipped around as far as their roots would allow. Birds in   
the trees and animals by the lake stopped what they were doing and   
looked toward the phenomenon. They did not prepare to flee, for they   
were of Elysian and threats were foreign concepts to them. The vortex   
grew until it engulfed the patch of glade in a whirlwind of dust and   
debris.  
  
And just as suddenly as it sprang up, it died out, revealing six   
travelers. As their hair fell back to their bodies and their billowing   
skirts died from lack of wind support, their eyes slowly opened. No one   
spoke at first. Sailor Saturn glanced around.  
  
"Are we there?" she asked. "Is this Elysian?"  
  
"This is it," the newly minted, pink-tressed Sailor Moon smiled   
warmly.  
  
"It's so beautiful," sighed Sailor Ceres. Her eyes filled with   
wonder, she released the hands of Sailor Juno and Sailor Pallas and   
walked through the glade. A happy grin sprouting on her face, she knelt   
down next to a patch of daffodils sprouting freely near some trees and   
gently stroked their leaves.  
  
"Is the whole realm like this?" Saturn asked.  
  
"It is now," Sailor Moon replied. "Helios put in a lot of work   
restoring this place after the attack. But it's all back to what it was   
now." Unnoticed by Sailor Moon or Saturn, Sailor Juno's expression   
crumpled into one of guilt and remorse.  
  
"Where are the horsies?" whined Pallas.  
  
"Well, there's a lake just through those trees," Sailor Moon told   
her. "I imagine there are probably a few watering over there. The   
place is filled with all sorts of animals, but horses seem to be the   
dominant one."  
  
Pallas' face lit up and she started for the trees, only to be   
restrained by Sailor Vesta.  
  
"Hold on," Vesta warned. "I don't think you ought to be wandering   
around on your own, at least until we've met up with Helios and gotten   
his OK. We're guests here, remember?" Pallas stuck out her lower lip,   
but she complied.  
  
"So are we just supposed to wait?" Juno asked.  
  
"Well, Helios knew we were coming, but he might not know we were   
coming to this spot," Sailor Moon reasoned. "The temple is at the top   
of that hill. They may be waiting for us there."  
  
Venturing forth, flanked by Saturn and her senshi, Sailor Moon   
began climbing up the grassy hill. Along the way, Ceres eased up next   
to Juno.  
  
"What's wrong?" Ceres asked.   
  
"Oh," Juno hesitated. "I guess I'm just feeling a little guilty.   
I hate the fact that we actually helped try to destroy this place once."  
  
"Yeah, I know," sighed Ceres. "I feel a little guilty myself.   
You just have to keep reminding yourself that it was a different time   
and we were different people." Juno nodded.  
  
As the group neared the summit of the hill, they could see a   
building atop it. The open-air building was an unearthly mixture of   
architectural styles. The high arched entrances facing all four compass   
directions were middle European. The turrets and parapets the extended   
out from the center in the shape of a huge "x" seemed vaguely Saxon.   
The pillars that grew out of the center and formed an altar on the roof,   
covered only by the heavens above, were classic Greek. The though   
occurred to more than one that this place may have existed since the   
very dawn of humanity and that designers had borrowed from it here and   
there after visiting in their dreams. It was a holy place that seemed   
to beckon them. Saturn and Juno were impressed with the sight.   
  
Approaching the temple, the six travelers could see people milling   
about inside. Voices could be heard resonating from the structure.   
While nothing said was comprehensible to them at that distance, the tone   
was quite clear. The people inside were upset about something.  
  
"What do you suppose is wrong?" Juno wondered.  
  
"Beats me," Vesta replied. "How about we go ask?"  
  
"That might be intruding," Saturn suggested. "This might not be   
any of our business."  
  
At once they heard a whimper from behind them. Turning, the girls   
saw Sailor Pallas hanging back. Her face was scrunched up with a   
mixture of dread and nervous fear. Ceres instantly was by her side.  
  
"Pallas?" Ceres whispered gently. "What is it?"  
  
"Something bad's happened," Pallas whimpered.  
  
"Did you catch someone's thought?"  
  
"No. Pallas can just tell. All the people are scared or angry.   
Pallas is afraid!"  
  
The girls turned to get their cue from the Princess, only to find   
Sailor Moon was already sprinting up the path for the temple. Vesta and   
Juno traded looks of disgust and followed with Saturn, while Ceres   
stayed behind with Pallas.  
  
Clambering up the steps to the temple, Sailor Moon skidded to a   
stop. At once all eyes turned to her and all voices hushed. She   
surveyed the crowd for Helios. Most of the gathered were strangers,   
though they all seemed to recognize her. Her eyes locked on a tall,   
willowy woman with long flowing blonde hair and a long, flowing sheer   
white gown. It was Ravonna, one of the two temple maidens and main   
assistants to Helios. Unlike the rest of the group, Ravonna's demeanor   
was as unchanged as usual: calm, stoic, and burdened by the things she   
saw and the things she knew as keeper of the history of Elysian and   
chief seer. Instantly Sailor Moon walked straight for her.  
  
"Ravonna, what's going on?" Sailor Moon asked, her pink trails   
flowing behind her. "Where's Helios?" At the mention of his name,   
several distressed gasps rose from the crowd of people. It made her   
even more worried.  
  
"Princess Usagi," Ravonna said, bowing courteously. "My apologies   
that you had to witness this. I knew of your impending arrival, but we   
did not have time to get word to you."  
  
Before Ravonna could continue, a frightened gasp passed through   
the gathered. It quickly mutated into an ugly, vengeful sound, though,   
as the crowd recognized Sailor Juno and Sailor Vesta, who had ascended   
with Sailor Saturn to the temple. Everyone instantly sensed the   
hostility passing through the people like a thing alive, but before   
anyone could act, it acted.  
  
"It's them!" howled one of the gathered. "The destroyers!"  
  
"They've come back for us!" roared another.  
  
"They must have taken the Chosen One!"  
  
"Don't let them escape!"  
  
Like a tidal wave, the mass rose up to engulf Vesta and Juno.   
Both backed up a step, but were ready to use their powers and their   
skills to defend themselves and, if needed, the Princess. Saturn, too,   
saw what was happening and lunged in front of them.  
  
"Please stop!" cried Saturn. "They've done nothing!"  
  
And the wave surged over them. Saturn was knocked aside.   
Growling, Vesta lurched into the onslaught, swinging her fists wildly.   
Juno began to invoke her power phrase, but the surge buried her words in   
a sea of bodies. Sailor Moon tried to fight her way through the crowd   
to aid her comrades, but it was like swimming against a tide.   
Frustrated, she began hacking her way through using the judo moves   
taught to her by Makoto. Tempers continued to flare and the insurgence   
started to turn back onto Sailor Moon and each other. An unglimpsed   
blow knocked the Princess to the stone floor. As she looked up, she   
could see through the throng. Vesta was struggling in the grip of six   
inhabitants of Elysian. Saturn was desperately trying to pull them off   
as they threatened to pull Vesta apart. Juno was nowhere to be seen.  
  
"That's it!" spat Sailor Moon, grinding her teeth.   
  
Through sheer force of will, she fought to her feet. Summoning   
the Crescent Moon Wand, Sailor Moon forced her mind to clear and her   
welling anger to calm.  
  
"Moon Healing Escalation!" she bellowed.  
  
The pink crystal in the bottom of the crescent suddenly flared   
like a sun, blanketing the room with pink light. As the energy fell   
over the angry mob, propelled by the inner essence of Sailor Moon, the   
people touched by it began to quiet. They unclenched their angry fists.   
Their legs lost strength. One by one, they sank to the floor, their   
anger and fear drained from them, replaced by the warmth and solace of   
Sailor Moon's pink energy. Even Vesta fell under its spell, stumbling   
backward and coming to rest next to the very man she was grappling with   
only moments before.  
  
The energy dimmed. The crystal quieted. Sailor Moon put a hand   
to her temple, then her legs buckled beneath her.  
  
"Princess?" Ravonna asked, catching the girl before she fell.   
"Are you ill?"  
  
"N-No," she mumbled, noticing Saturn was by her side as well.   
"Maybe I should wait a few years until I try that again, though."   
Sailor Moon took a few gasping breaths until her head cleared.   
"Ravonna, what's happened? Where's Helios?"  
  
"Gone," Ravonna said and icy fingers closed around Sailor Moon's   
heart. "Taken."  
  
"By who?" Sailor Moon gasped.  
  
"We do not know. She is a woman, with a long cape of white hair   
and a long white dress, and eyes with no soul. This much I saw in my   
vision. But I know nothing of who she is, of where she comes from, or   
to where she has taken The Chosen One." Ravonna looked off beyond   
Sailor Moon and stiffened. "Queen Mother!"  
  
Saturn and Sailor Moon turned and looked. Between two columns   
stood Candide, the mother of Helios. She possessed the same snow-white   
hair as Helios, hair that flowed down to her waist. She had the same   
gentleness to her features that Helios had, but carried herself with a   
regal bearing that lent her age an imposing authority. She only lacked   
the crystal horn her son possessed. And, Sailor Moon noted, Candide   
lacked the vitality she remembered the woman always having. Her face   
was drawn with a deep sadness that seemed to sap her energy.  
  
To one side stood the other shrine maiden, Evionne. Though   
similar to Ravonna, it was easy to tell the two apart. Evionne had more   
exotic looking features, particularly her eyes. And Evionne was the one   
looking at Sailor Moon with barely contained loathing, a trait not lost   
on Saturn. While her friend didn't back down from the glare, neither   
did she return it with even a fraction of the venom heaped upon her.  
  
"Princess Usagi," Candide choked out. "I fear you have come at a   
bad time. And yet, perhaps your strength is what will be needed to help   
us locate and return my son."  
  
"Perhaps that won't be necessary," snarled Evionne. She had   
spotted Vesta and Juno and her loathing was even direr for them than for   
Sailor Moon. Candide spotted them as well and her breath caught in her   
throat.  
  
"Candide, no!" cried Sailor Moon. "They're with me!"  
  
"With you?" snapped Evionne. "You align yourself with our worst   
enemies? You . . .!"  
  
"Evionne," Candide said, expecting to be obeyed. "That will do."   
Evionne bowed her head in compliance, though her anger was undimmed.   
"Princess, please explain."  
  
"They're my senshi, Candide," Sailor Moon told her, getting to her   
feet with Saturn's help. "They've reformed. They're no longer a threat   
to Elysian. I guarantee it."  
  
"Yes, ma'am," Juno added. "We've renounced our former ways. We   
deeply regret the pain we caused any of you and all we ask is a chance   
to make up for it."  
  
Candide seemed to look through Juno. As the seconds passed, a   
small, charitable smile grew on her mouth.  
  
"No doubt due to your influence, Princess," she said. "Citizens   
of Elysian: these two are not our enemies. Princess Usagi has pledged   
their innocence and I am willing to believe her. Please calm your   
righteous anger."   
  
"Candide, is it true?" Sailor Moon asked. "Did someone take   
Helios?"  
  
"It is true," Candide replied softly. "Within the hour before   
your arrival. We were even warned. Ravonna spoke prophecy the previous   
night, warning us of what was to come. I pleaded with my Helios to take   
care, to guard himself." Candide smiled slightly, even through her   
sad-eyed expression. "But he let his guard down in anticipation of   
seeing you. He has pined for you these many months, my dear. The mere   
thought of being with you again brought a light back to his eyes I had   
not seen in far too long. And it was that moment she struck."  
  
"Who struck? Who did it?" demanded Sailor Moon.  
  
Candide dropped her head. She shook it several times before she   
could find words. "I do not know. My son is gone and I do not know who   
or how or where or why!"  
  
Candide crumbled into soft sobbing. Sailor Moon, fighting back   
tears of her own, gathered the woman to her and the pair clung to each   
other for strength. Everyone looked on in agony. Even Evionne's   
burning rage quelled and she looked on in helpless sadness. Saturn   
quietly backed to Juno and Vesta.  
  
"I don't know what to do," Saturn whispered. "My powers aren't   
equipped to handle this. Any ideas?"  
  
"No," Juno replied. "This is way beyond anything we can do.   
Maybe if Sensei Rei-sama were here, she could do something."  
  
"Well there's got to be some clue!" Vesta rumbled, agitated by the   
grief she saw in Sailor Moon. "Something we can use to point us in the   
right direction!"  
  
"I have found nothing, as has Ravonna," Evionne said coldly.   
"Perhaps your sinister Dead Moon Circus wizardry may succeed where we   
have failed. At this point, I would even welcome it."  
  
Feeling Vesta's anger welling up, Juno stepped in front of her.   
"I wish there was something we could do," Juno said. "We're pledged   
both to aid and protect the Princess and to help others. But I don't   
know if there's anything we can do."  
  
A low murmur in the crowd attracted everyone's attention. Ceres   
had entered the temple, holding a cowering Sailor Pallas by the hand.   
Ceres looked around and saw the anger and contempt mixed with fear and   
sadness. She swallowed nervously.  
  
"You," Candide said, pointing to Pallas. She was across the room   
in moments. Pallas gave as much ground as she could, while Vesta tried   
to lunge through Juno to protect her sister amazon.  
  
"Candide, she's with me!" Sailor Moon cried out.  
  
But Candide did the unexpected: she knelt at the feet of the   
spooked Sailor Pallas.  
  
"I sense the power in you!" Candide said desperately. "I sense   
the levels you are capable of! Please! Only with your help can we   
possibly rescue my son! Please, you must help us! I beg you! Please!"  
  
"Uh," Pallas gulped fearfully. "B-But what can Pallas do?"  
  
"Ravonna!" Candide quickly motioned and the temple maiden appeared   
at her side. "Separately we are nothing! But if you join your power to   
that of Ravonna's and mine and the Princess Usagi, perhaps we may see   
the path along which my son was taken! Perhaps we may see the place   
where he is held! Please, child, please help us!"  
  
"Queen Mother!" Evionne gasped in reproach. Candide ignored her   
remonstration.  
  
"Pallas will do it if the Princess tells her," Pallas squeaked.   
"Pallas will do anything the Princess tells her." Pallas reached out   
and gently caressed Candide's cheek. "Pallas is sorry you lost your   
sonny. Pallas lost her mommy, so she knows what that's like." Candide   
hugged the hand to her cheek, tears pouring down.  
  
"What do we need to do, Candide?" Sailor Moon asked.  
  
"Are you sufficiently recovered, Princess?" Candide asked.  
  
"Wouldn't matter if I wasn't," Sailor Moon said, her lower lip   
quivering. "Take it all if it finds Helios."  
  
Candide nodded sympathetically. Waving Ravonna and Pallas in, she   
stood opposite Sailor Moon.  
  
"Produce your wand, please," Candide whispered. Sailor Moon   
complied. Candide folded her hands over the pink crystal. Her face   
seemed to momentarily express a sense of joy. "Sailor Pallas," she said   
hoarsely. "Place your hands over mine. Concentrate on finding Helios."   
Pallas complied and immediately her eyes closed and her face grew calm.   
"Now, Ravonna, take our combined power and see what you have never seen   
before."  
  
Ravonna, her skirt and hair billowing from the radiated psychic   
waves, folded her hands over those of Pallas. Her eyelids snapped   
closed and her lips parted slightly. Everyone watched tensely as a   
swirl of light seemed to engulf the four. The pink crystal flared,   
tinting the light a pastel red. Ravonna's eyes opened slowly and   
clearly she saw what everyone else could not.  
  
"The plains," Ravonna mumbled. "The vistas - - so big - - so   
vast. One with everything - - nothing and everything. I am - - I no   
longer."  
  
"Ravonna?!" Evionne gasped out fearfully. It seemed to anchor the   
woman.  
  
"A path - - paved in evil," Ravonna said distantly. "Shrouded - -   
in white - - selfish - - vain - - splattered with red - - the blood   
drips - - the eyes bleed. Life and death - - death and life - - life   
everlasting - - life without death - - life without life."  
  
Evionne shrieked as Ravonna collapsed upon the stone floor of the   
temple. Pallas wasn't far behind her. She sat crying helplessly,   
crying from the depths of her soul. As Vesta supported Pallas and   
Evionne tended to Ravonna, Sailor Moon felt Candide's strong hands   
steady her. She opened her eyes and looked up at the woman.  
  
"Pray, Princess," Candide whispered. "If this does not work, then   
all is lost."  
  
"Ravonna!" cried Evionne. "Sister, say something!" She shook the   
limp woman. "Ravonna!"  
  
"You possess a voice most shrill," whispered Ravonna. "It has   
always been so."  
  
"OH!" fumed Evionne. Then she hugged her sister. "Someday I will   
not forgive you so easily for scaring me so!"  
  
"Ravonna?" Candide asked. "Did you succeed?"  
  
Ravonna took a breath to steady herself. "The Chosen One is in   
the possession of a practitioner of dark magicks on a planet nestled   
just between the plain of unreality and the plain of reality. Her name   
is Ctesias. You must hurry. She means much harm to The Chosen One."  
  
"I go, my sister!" Evionne proclaimed. "I will rescue The Chosen   
One if it means my life!"  
  
"I'm coming with you!" Sailor Moon said. Evionne glared. "I know   
you hate me, Evionne, but this is more important than that! Helios has   
to come first!"  
  
Evionne stared, her jaw clenched.  
  
"A truce, then. Let us dedicate ourselves to our love for The   
Chosen One and not to other things."  
  
"Then we're coming, too," Juno said. "We stick by you, Princess,   
no matter where you go." Saturn and the other senshi nodded in   
agreement.  
  
"Thanks," Sailor Moon smiled gratefully.  
  
"Princess, your crystal can now direct you to the planet Ctesias   
resides upon," Ravonna said. "May good fortune go with you."  
  
"We can probably get there quicker with Sailor Teleport," Sailor   
Moon said.  
  
The senshi formed a circle around Evionne and joined hands. They   
closed their eyes and concentrated. As the jewels in their tiaras   
flared, a whirlwind began to engulf them. Evionne stood bravely in the   
circle, even though she had never seen such a phenomenon before. As the   
senshi shouted "Sailor Teleport", the whirlwind engulfed them in a   
surge of power. When it died away, they were gone.  
  
  
Continued in Chapter 3 


	3. Cartaghos

BLOOD OF THE IMMORTAL  
Chapter 3: "Cartaghos"  
  
By Bill K.  
  
The landscape was harsh, with jagged rocks jutting from the hard   
ground like teeth and open crevasses angling along the surface like   
open, festering wounds. The skies were violet and oppressive. If it   
was day, it was a day with little light. If it was night, it was a   
twilight with just enough shadow to be foreboding.   
  
Amid the gloom, dust and dirt began to swirl. A whirlwind formed   
and picked up intensity until it reached ten feet into the sky. The   
force reached an apex, then died away, revealing seven travelers.   
Sailor Moon, her senshi, her friend Sailor Saturn, and Evionne of   
Elysian, opened their eyes. Looking around, it was clear they did not   
like what they saw.  
  
"OK, I think this officially qualifies as creepy," Sailor Ceres   
said, emitting an involuntary shiver.  
  
"Pallas doesn't like this place," Sailor Pallas whimpered,   
huddling up to Sailor Vesta. "Pallas wants to go home."  
  
"Calm down, stupid," Vesta whispered gently. "Nothing's going to   
happen to you - - not while I'm here."  
  
"Is this the right place?" Saturn asked. Sailor Moon nodded. "Do   
you know where we are?"  
  
Sailor Moon closed her eyes for a moment. "I get a word from the   
crystal: Cartaghos." She shrugged. "I guess that's the name of this   
place - - or the planet."  
  
"Perhaps both," suggested Sailor Juno.  
  
"Enough talk!" snapped Evionne. "Every moment we delay could be   
the last for The Chosen One! We must find him!"  
  
"I'm all for that," Juno replied. "Any idea where to look?"  
  
Evionne scanned the horizon impatiently. Her eyes locked on a   
series of towers atop a rise to their right.   
  
"There," she pointed. "Tell me you cannot sense the negative   
energy radiating out from it. The very structure shrieks of   
corruption."  
  
"Pallas can feel it," Pallas nodded.  
  
"I get a small sense of it, too," Sailor Moon replied. "Let's   
go."  
  
"Wait a minute!" Juno insisted. "OK, that's our destination.   
I'll accept that. But do any of you know what might be waiting there   
for us? Do you know anything about this Ctesias? How powerful she is?   
Whether she knows we're here? Why she took Helios and what her plans   
are?"  
  
"All excellent questions," Evionne said as she stalked off up the   
rise toward the spires. "Perhaps I will remember to ask her while I am   
choking the life from her." Sailor Moon started to follow.  
  
"Sailor Moon!" Juno said insistently.  
  
"You make a lot of sense, Juno," Sailor Moon said. "But Evionne   
is right about one thing: Helios may not have much time left. I can't   
take that risk." She continued on behind Evionne, with Saturn and Vesta   
quickly moving to catch her.  
  
"Maybe we can think of something on the way," Ceres offered,   
Pallas clinging to her. Juno sighed in frustration and accompanied her.  
  
As they walked up the rise, they surveyed their surroundings for   
signs of life. The plant life, such as it was, seemed alien, almost   
ominous. Bushes and some sort of moss grew in patches along the sparse   
ground. It was colored a dark gray and the leaves seemed gnarled. At   
first there seemed to be no sign of any animal life at all. When Saturn   
suggested this, though, Vesta pointed to a quick movement among the   
rocks. Some creature, about the size of a cat and very quick, could   
just be made out skittering from outcropped rock to mossy patch, if one   
looked closely enough. Ceres made a face at the thought of the group   
being stalked by some unknown predator.   
  
Evionne, both through determination and extraordinary stamina,   
gained ground and was fifteen yards ahead of them. Saturn used this   
opportunity to ease up next to her friend.  
  
"He's going to be all right," she offered.  
  
"I'm trying to believe that," Sailor Moon replied, her pink trails   
bouncing behind her. "But I can't help worrying. Saturn, if anything   
happens to him," and she swallowed, "I don't know if I can go on."  
  
"You can, and you will," Saturn told her. "I know how difficult a   
loss like this can be. I remember when my mother died, how bad it was   
and how much it hurt. I didn't think I could go on. I didn't think Dad   
could go on." She put her hand on Sailor Moon's shoulder. "But we   
did." Sailor Moon nodded, but she didn't seem convinced.  
  
"Um," Saturn began, trying to get her friend's thoughts away from   
Helios, "so why is Evionne so hostile? I've noticed it since we all   
arrived. Is she always like that, or is it the Amazons?"  
  
"It's not you guys," she said. "It's me. I'm kind of not   
Evionne's favorite person."  
  
"Why not?"   
  
"It's a tradition for the Chosen One to pledge to one of the   
maidens of the temple," explained Sailor Moon, "if he fails to choose a   
mate on his own. That's Helios; he's The Chosen One, sort of the chief   
priest and protector of Elysian and the Golden Crystal. And this   
tradition was a tradition Evionne was looking forward to. She's been in   
love with Helios for a long time. Then I came along and - - well, you   
can probably guess the rest."  
  
"Poor girl," Saturn replied.  
  
"I can't really blame her for being in love with Helios," grinned   
Sailor Moon shyly. "I can't even blame her for hating my guts. It's   
probably the way I would have felt if Helios had chosen her over me."   
Sailor Moon sighed. "Helios and Candide both have tried to get Evionne   
over this. Heck, she's even set to succeed Helios as chosen one if he   
decides to step down. But Evionne's not one to forgive easily. That's   
why I pity this Ctesias, whatever her deal is." She glanced at Saturn   
and smirked. "But not a whole lot."  
  
"If only your mother could hear you," Saturn grinned back.  
  
"Well, I'm not Mom," Sailor Moon declared. "And sometimes Mom   
forgives just a little too easily."  
  
Rising above a crest, the Sailors caught up with Evionne. She   
stood at the bank of the top of the rise. In the center of the rise   
stood the towers, even blacker and more ominous up close than they were   
at a distance. There were five towers in all, equi-distant from each   
other so as to form the points of a pentagram. Thick stone walls forty   
feet high connected the towers. A wide moat of dark liquid surrounded   
the towers.  
  
Juno looked up into the sky. If she strained, she could barely   
make out stars in the violet haze that seemed to shroud the planet. One   
in particular seemed to try to shine through. Juno took comfort in it,   
knowing that something was watching over them with no sinister intent in   
mind.  
  
"He has come this way," Evionne declared, turning back to the   
Sailors. "Of that I am certain. And yet," and Evionne betrayed the   
slightest hint of fear as she glanced back at the towers, "I get no   
sense of The Chosen One now."  
  
"You're not saying we're too late, are you?" Vesta asked. They   
all felt Sailor Moon tense.  
  
"I pray not," Evionne whispered. She squared her shoulders.   
"Come. Let us beard the lioness in her den. But be cautious. I think   
we are not alone out here."  
  
Prophetic words, for in an instant the group was set upon as   
dozens of creatures poured from behind the bushes and over the ridge of   
the bluff they stood on. Pallas shrieked in surprise as the others   
crouched in a protective circle.  
  
The creatures ran on four legs, and looked vaguely like a bobcat,   
with matted black fur and thick tails that trailed a foot behind them.   
Sharp claws extended from feet heavily tufted with protective fur. Dark   
cheeks pulled back from razor sharp teeth, forcing jaundice yellow eyes   
to squint in furor. Their ears were long and tapered to a point,   
extending up to take in the slightest sound. They covered the space   
between the travelers and themselves in seconds.  
  
"Fauna assimilation, bear!" bellowed Vesta. She took on no   
outward manifestation of the animal, but when several of the creatures   
leaped at her, Vesta batted them away with a powerful swing of her arm.   
It was a swing more powerful than any human could muster.  
  
As Vesta attacked, Evionne sprouted wings from her back. With an   
effortless push, she soared into the air above the others.   
  
"Vesta!" shouted Juno. "Watch your back!" Using some of the kung   
fu that Makoto had taught her, Juno kicked away one of the snarling   
beasts. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Sailor Moon do the   
same, while Ceres struggled to do something. "Ceres, what's wrong?"  
  
"It's this alien plant life!" howled Ceres, flinching at a lunging   
beast that was knocked away by Sailor Saturn's glaive. "It won't   
respond to my commands!"  
  
"Beautiful Incantation!" Pallas yelled out. She gestured at   
several of the beasts and an invisible battering ram bowled them over.   
Vesta confronted three of the snarling beasts, roaring defiantly and   
hunching her shoulders.  
  
"This is futile!" Saturn called out. "Everybody pull in closer!"   
When they complied, Saturn pointed her glaive to the heavens and stamped   
it onto the ground. "Silence Wall!"  
  
A lunging beast was caught by the shield, crashing headfirst into   
it and sinking to the ground. Several others began pushing against it,   
raking it with their claws while the rest circled the Senshi in search   
of a way inside.  
  
"Thanks, Saturn," panted Sailor Moon.   
  
"You're welcome as far as it goes," she replied. "But we can't   
stay here all day."  
  
"Maybe we don't have to," Sailor Moon said and produced the   
Crescent Moon Wand. "Moon Healing Escalation!"  
  
The pink energy radiated out from the wand, blanketing the area.   
The cat beasts instantly stopped, glaring nervously at Sailor Moon.   
They gave ground rapidly as the pink energy fanned out, finally turning   
tail and running away. Saturn exhaled in relief and dropped her shield.   
Once the creatures were gone, Evionne landed.  
  
"Glad you could join us," Vesta snapped sarcastically. "I bet you   
were real safe up there."   
  
"Did any of you notice a peculiar quality to those creatures?"   
Evionne said, ignoring Vesta.  
  
"Well, they were mean, vicious, ugly and scary!" shivered Ceres.   
"I really didn't notice anything else."  
  
"Their plan of attack was quite sophisticated," Evionne replied,   
then pointed to Vesta, "as the scars on this one will attest. They were   
very methodical. Some of the beasts attacked, while others stood back   
and observed your fighting methods."  
  
"Intelligence?" gasped Juno.  
  
"That would be my judgment," Evionne nodded. "Had you not erected   
the shield when you did, I feel they would have quickly adjusted to your   
defenses and taken you all down one by one."  
  
"I wouldn't have let that happen," Sailor Moon declared.  
  
"That is comforting to know. However, do not become   
over-confident. The effects of your attack, Princess, did not drive off   
the beasts. They retreated in the face of what they sensed as superior   
power. Do not underestimate them. They may be back, and with a plan."  
  
"How about we get Helios and get the heck out of here, then?"   
Vesta grumbled. She rubbed several nasty claw marks across her thigh.  
  
"Vesta, those are some nasty wounds," Juno said.  
  
"I'm all right! Let's go!"  
  
The band trudged across the top of the rise until they reached the   
moat surrounding the towers. Sailor Moon and Evionne both peered up at   
it. They weren't used to being dwarfed so, unlike Saturn and Pallas.   
The towers loomed over them and they seemed momentarily intimidated by   
it. Juno, meanwhile, knelt down next to the moat.  
  
"Careful," warned Saturn. "Don't assume that's water."  
  
"Good advice," Juno commented. She flattened her hand and held it   
inches over the surface. She seemed to listen to something only she   
could hear. Then she rose to her feet. "It's water. Maybe not the   
cleanest water I've ever encountered, but it is normal water."  
  
"At least something about this place is normal," shivered Ceres.  
  
"You know, Juno," smirked Vesta. "You'd have looked real funny if   
some giant sea creature had popped up out of that moat and snapped your   
hand off." Juno scowled, but didn't say anything, because she realized   
Vesta was right.  
  
At once, Evionne sprouted her wings again. She moved to take off,   
but Sailor Moon held her back.  
  
"What about us?" Sailor Moon asked. "None of us can fly - -   
except maybe Vesta."  
  
"Then you must find your own way in," Evionne replied aloofly.   
  
"You're going in there alone?" Sailor Moon demanded.  
  
"Yes, because every second may be precious to the Chosen One! How   
many times must I remind you of this? If you can find a way in, so much   
the better, but I will not wait for you!"  
  
A noise stopped them all. A bridge began to extend from the   
nearest tower, spanning the moat. It was an ancient thing, made of   
something that almost resembled wood. Ancient runes were carved into   
the sides of the bridge, invoking gods and protections possibly long   
dead - - possibly. The gathered backed up to allow the span to come to   
rest on the bank they were on. On the wall of the tower the bridge had   
emerged from, a passageway had grown into the solid stone wall. It was   
about six feet tall and crested to a point in the center, with   
indentations at each side of the frame that resembled horns.  
  
"How convenient," commented Juno.  
  
The senshi looked to Sailor Moon for their cue.  
  
"Let's go," she whispered.  
  
"Come in to my parlor, said the spider to the fly," Saturn mumbled   
as they began to cross the bridge.  
  
"Saturn, I wish you hadn't said that," Sailor Moon grimaced.  
  
"I'm just pointing out . . ."  
  
"I know what you're pointing out. I know it smells like a trap.   
But right now it's the fastest way in, and Evionne's right - - Helios   
might not have the time to spare."  
  
"Some of us could stay behind, in case it is a trap," Ceres   
offered.  
  
"Those creatures would get you the moment we were out of sight,"   
Evionne replied. "Seven hands against this - - woman - - are more   
likely to succeed than one, too."   
  
As they stepped through the portal, each one looked around. The   
inside of the tower was huge. Their steps echoed forever on marble   
floors. The ceiling was seventy feet in the air. There were the   
occasional ornaments on the walls. They were unearthly things,   
recognizable as objects, but their function steeped in mystery.   
Tapestries that hung on the walls were usually deep blues and indigos,   
of intricate scenes of bloody battles or woeful scenes of tortured   
prisoners. Shadows draped the halls and corners. Whatever light source   
there was in this tower was not natural.  
  
"Hey!" shouted Ceres. "The bridge is retracting!"  
  
They turned to look and saw the bridge returning into the tower,   
though it was impossible to determine where it was retracting. Once it   
was gone, the portal began to collapse into itself, resembling ice cream   
melting under a heat lamp. The sides coalesced into each other, then   
reformed into stone.  
  
"Thing you can take out that wall if you have to?" Sailor Moon   
asked Saturn.  
  
"I can try," Saturn replied. It was obvious she wasn't sure.  
  
The band began walking down a hall, following Evionne. Perhaps   
she knew where she was headed, perhaps not. It was as good a choice as   
any. As they walked, the oppressive atmosphere took on an aspect of a   
weight on them.  
  
"Sailor Moon," Saturn whispered. "What kind of sense do you get   
of this place?"  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Well, I get the feeling that this place has existed for a long   
time, just as it is now," Saturn explained. "I get this tremendous   
sense of age, but not of life. It's almost like there's nothing living   
here - - nothing human. And yet, there's something powerful about this   
place." She shook her head. "I don't know. I'm not even sure I know   
what I'm talking about." Sailor Moon caught her hand and gave it a   
squeeze.  
  
"How are you doing, Pallas?" Juno asked.  
  
"Mind your own business!" snapped Pallas. Everyone stopped and   
glanced back at the girl. Pallas stuck her jaw out defiantly, frowning.   
Saturn and Sailor Moon exchanged concerned glances.  
  
"Don't take that tone with her, Brat!" growled Ceres.  
  
"And you watch your mouth, too, or you'll deal with me!" Vesta   
hissed at Ceres. For a moment the two looked like they would come to   
blows.  
  
"Hey, can we keep our mind on our work?" Sailor Moon asked   
insistently. Both senshi glared at her for a moment before remorse took   
over. Vesta looked away in embarrassment.   
  
"Sorry," whispered Ceres. "I guess this place is getting to me."  
  
The corridor curved and the group continued to follow it. Several   
minutes of walking led them to a large, rectangular portal with a pair   
of dark crimson drapes over it that met in the center. Reaching out,   
Evionne took one side and cautiously pulled it back. Juno took hold of   
the other side and they all peered in.  
  
It was another large room with a high ceiling. A table cluttered   
with books, gurgling potions and jars of powders and other things was   
left of center. Lining the walls were shelves ten feet high, jammed   
with jars and books and objects they couldn't identify. Right of center   
were seven statues carved from stone. One resembled something humanoid.   
Two others were animals, two more were plants of some alien type, while   
the last two were some arcane symbols. They flanked the humanoid statue   
on either side. A carpet led from the portal straight to a throne.   
  
Upon the throne was a woman. She had the pristine beauty of a   
classic painting and a slim, well-crafted figure draped in a low-cut   
armless white gown. Her long hair was thick and full and white as   
death. Sailor Moon realized that analogy had sprung into her head   
unbidden and she realized uneasily that it fit perfectly. Crouched in   
her lap was one of the creatures that had attacked them earlier. The   
cat-like thing glared at them, taking in their every move while   
remaining at rest. They could see, though, that one move the beast   
didn't like would send it into action.  
  
Manicured, yet talon-like fingers extended out, waving slightly as   
the woman manipulated coalescing clouds of blue, green and violet before   
her as a sculptor might mold clay. As the group eased into the room,   
she took no notice of them, unconcerned as to whether they meant her   
harm or not. Her full attention was on the swirling clouds.   
Occasionally a spark of red or yellow would flare from it and be quickly   
swallowed by the darker colors.  
  
"That is her," hissed Evionne. "That is the woman who took The   
Chosen One."  
  
"How rude you are," the woman replied calmly as she kept her   
concentration on the swirling clouds she was molding. "You cross into   
my hearth and immediately cast aspersions against me. Does your culture   
no longer value manners?"  
  
Before anyone else could speak, the clouds flared, giving off a   
flash of light. When the flash died away, a creature was perched on the   
woman's arm. It was squat, with gray leathery skin and talons on both   
the feet it perched with and the awkward things that resembled arms.   
Scalloped wings unfolded from its back. It's head, mounted on a   
snake-like neck, was reptilian, its eyes red and scornful. The head   
turned toward them, as if contemplating an attack.  
  
"What is it?" Ceres asked softly. "A dragon?"  
  
"Some day," the woman smiled mirthlessly. "Right now it's just a   
baby. But some day," and she pulled the thing close and softly kissed   
its beak. The creature pushed off and flew up into the rafters of the   
ceiling.  
  
The woman turned to Sailor Moon and her companions. Her eyes   
looked squarely into theirs and they could see they were as dead as a   
shark's eyes.  
  
"I am the sorceress Ctesias," she said formally. "How may I   
assist you?"  
  
continued in Chapter 4 


	4. Parry And Feint

BLOOD OF THE IMMORTAL,  
Chapter 4: "Parry and Feint"  
  
By Bill K.  
  
Ctesias sat upon her throne, looking at Sailor Moon and Evionne   
and their companions. She was serenely calm and confident. The cat   
beast that sat in her lap accepted her stroking palm as if it was due.   
There was a resemblance between the two, in that each seemed   
irritatingly pleased with themselves. Ctesias made no overt   
acknowledgment that she knew what they wanted, but it was fairly obvious   
she did. It was too much for Evionne.  
  
"We have come for the Chosen One," Evionne growled. "Deliver him   
to us - - NOW!"  
  
"The temerity of you," Ctesias purred. "First accusations and now   
demands. You know nothing of being a proper guest." Ctesias angled her   
head ever so leisurely, dismissing Evionne wordlessly and locking onto   
Sailor Moon. "Now you have the mark and bearing of a Princess. Surely   
you must have better breeding than your companion."  
  
"We believe Helios of Elysian to be here," Sailor Moon replied.   
She fought to keep her tone of voice even and chose her words carefully.   
She sensed that it wasn't a good idea to betray the concern she felt for   
Helios - - or the fear that rumbled just under the surface, fear born   
both of the ominous surroundings she found herself in and of the   
unnatural appearance of Ctesias herself.  
  
"No one is here but me," Ctesias calmly told her, "and you."  
  
"LIAR!" roared Evionne. Ctesias ignored her.  
  
"We have - - information - - that he has been brought here,"   
Sailor Moon continued, straining to keep her cool.  
  
"Then your information is wrong," Ctesias smiled. The smile was   
more a challenge than anything else.  
  
"Perhaps someone else," Saturn began.  
  
"No one else is here but me," Ctesias answered. "You are the   
first visitors I've had in - - oh, nearly four hundred years."  
  
"I would still - - appreciate it - - if we could look around,"   
Sailor Moon persisted.  
  
"Appreciate it in what way?" smiled Ctesias, predatorily. Sailor   
Moon seemed puzzled by the response. "What would you give me to allow   
you to search? How precious is this Helios person to you?"  
  
"Enough of this!" spat Evionne. "I will find him without your   
permission! And when I do, I will return for your head!"  
  
She turned right and began to stalk off. However, Evionne only   
got three paces from the others. In the wink of an eye, tendrils shot   
up from the marble floor. They rose ten feet in the air, met at a point   
above Evionne's head, then transmuted into iron bars. Evionne found   
herself trapped in a giant birdcage. She grasped the bars and shook   
them in futility.  
  
"Know you that this is my abode," Ctesias told Evionne, as if   
lecturing a child, "and none may traverse it without my leave." She   
smiled coldly. "I wonder what songs you will sing for me once you grow   
used to your captivity."  
  
Sailor Moon sensed Vesta about to lunge and restrained her.  
  
"Let her go," Sailor Moon said. Ctesias turned back to her.  
  
"Was that a request or a command, Princess?" Ctesias asked.  
  
"A request," Sailor Moon said, clutching her temper with both   
hands. "Please don't force it to become a command."  
  
Ctesias smiled. Her eyes twinkled. "You have much potential, my   
dear. I should like to meet you again once you have matured." She   
fastidiously adjusted her gown. "Very well, I grant your request."  
  
A wave of her hand caused the cage to dissolve into mist. Evionne   
stared at Ctesias and the return stare she got told her that the cage   
could reappear very easily should she venture another step into the   
bowels of the tower.  
  
"Now, where were we?" Ctesias asked playfully. "Yes, we were   
bargaining. I fear it is a futile exercise, though, for none of you   
possess anything I could want." She looked at them smugly. "Unless   
there was something else, I must conclude this audience."  
  
"We're not leaving without Helios," Sailor Moon said. Juno and   
Saturn glanced at her with amazement. They'd never heard her use such a   
resolute tone.  
  
"He is not here," Ctesias challenged gently.  
  
"He is."  
  
"Do you name me liar as well?" bristled the sorceress.  
  
"My heart does."  
  
"You love him?" Ctesias asked. "Then you have my condolences."  
  
"We're not leaving without him," Sailor Moon declared.  
  
"Oh, but you are," Ctesias leered.  
  
And suddenly they were outside the towers, on the far bank of the   
moat. Startled, they looked around. She had only gestured once, a   
simple flick of her wrist.   
  
"What the Hell are we up against?" Juno murmured.  
  
All other thoughts were cut short when Juno and the others noticed   
Sailor Moon. Her lower lip quivered. Her eyes began to water. The   
strength seemed to leave her legs and she sank to her knees. Instantly   
Saturn was next to her.  
  
"Sailor Moon?" Saturn asked.  
  
"We were nothing to her," Sailor Moon whispered as water streamed   
down her cheeks. "And Helios is in there! I could feel him! And he's   
suffering so much! And I can't help him!"  
  
"We're not beaten yet," Ceres offered.  
  
"Mama could beat her," Sailor Moon whimpered. "But I'm not her."  
  
"You told me that," Saturn said. "You're not your mom. But that   
just means you have to find a way you can do it. Don't give up so soon.   
I believe in you."  
  
Sailor Moon tucked her head to Saturn's breast. Saturn put her   
arms around her friend and held on.  
  
"Princess," Evionne said softly, respectful of the girl's sorrow.   
"I can fly each of us across the moat."  
  
"A frontal attack?" Juno asked. "Is that wise?"  
  
"Perhaps not," sniffed Evionne superiorly. "I am not wise in the   
ways of skulking, unlike your kind."  
  
Juno's eyes narrowed. "Aqua Initiation!" she hissed, gesturing at   
the moat. A waterspout rose up and doused Evionne. "I'm getting just a   
little tired of you," Juno said.   
  
"Juno!" Sailor Moon said sharply, because the glint in the girl's   
eye and the malicious grin was eerily familiar. Juno shook herself, as   
if out of a mild trance, and realized what she'd done.  
  
"I'm sorry," she croaked out. "I don't know what came over me."   
Vesta and Ceres exchanged concerned glances.  
  
"Maybe we all should do what we do best," Saturn suggested,   
looking deferentially to Sailor Moon for approval. She didn't want it   
to seem that she was stepping on her friend's acknowledged role as   
leader. "Evionne, Sailor Moon and I can mount a direct assault on one   
of the towers. Maybe we can get in without being spotted. Meanwhile,   
you four can try to find a way in that will flank her."  
  
Juno nodded. "I can explore this moat. Maybe there's a way in   
underneath it. And Vesta can invoke some sort of fish power and come   
with me."  
  
"Pallas," Sailor Moon said. "When you were working for Queen   
Neherenia, didn't you get the Golden Crystal away from her?"  
  
"Yeah!" cackled Pallas at the memory, her eyes glinting with a   
little too much cruelty. "Pallas popped in and put a pineapple there   
instead. Queen Neherenia was mean to Pallas. Pallas was glad to do   
it."  
  
"Pallas!" Sailor Moon said, grabbing the girl by the upper arms.   
"Focus! This is important!"  
  
"You don't have to grab Pallas!" she frowned.   
  
"I'm sorry, but we have to find Helios. Can you manage to sneak   
into the towers and look for him the way you snuck into Neherenia's   
chamber and got the Golden Crystal?"  
  
"Sure," Pallas smirked. "Pallas thinks it'll be fun." She walked   
over to the bank, with everyone's stare following her. "But how does   
Pallas get across the water? Her Ball Attacks don't work anymore."  
  
"Um, Evionne can fly us over," Sailor Moon said, then huddled with   
Juno, Ceres and Vesta. "What's going on with her?"  
  
"I-I don't know," Juno offered. "It's got to be this place. Ever   
since we got here, I've been having - - thoughts and feelings I didn't   
think I'd ever have again."  
  
"Yeah, me too," Ceres said. "It's like this place brings out your   
bad side." She noticed Saturn gulp.   
  
"Maybe that's not such a bad thing," Vesta added. "Maybe Black   
Lady and Mistress 9 can take this witch where we can't."  
  
"Don't even speak about such things!" Saturn hissed, then caught   
herself and looked away.  
  
"Look," sighed Sailor Moon. "Let's just do this, get Helios, and   
get away from this place as fast as we can. Ceres, would you go with   
Pallas and keep an eye on her?" Ceres nodded. "And everybody - - be   
careful. I want to get Helios back, but I want to get all of you back,   
too."  
  
Juno nodded. Vesta patted Sailor Moon on the arm. Speaking her   
code phrase, Vesta grew gills on her neck and fins on her arms and legs,   
then dived into the moat. Juno followed, the water forming a bubble   
around her at her command that trapped air inside.  
  
"Hang on," Ceres said. "See that tree?" Down the bank a ways was   
a gnarled thing that could be thought of as a tree, if one didn't stick   
too closely to the definition. One of its limbs extended over the moat.   
"Maybe I can get it to carry Pallas and me over the moat. That'll leave   
you three free to attack from a different place."  
  
With Pallas following, Ceres walked over to the tree. When she   
was close enough, she pointed at it and concentrated.  
  
"Floral Stimulation," she said, and strained to make the plant   
obey. A few seconds passed. The limb on the tree began to quiver.   
"OH!" gasped Ceres in shock.  
  
"What happened?" Pallas asked.  
  
"That tree just told me to," sputtered Ceres, mortified. "Well,   
never mind what it suggested! It's physically impossible anyway!"  
  
Pallas let loose a rude snort and started laughing.  
  
"Oh shut up, 'Baby'!" huffed Ceres. She jabbed back at the tree   
with both hands, gritting her teeth. "Floral Stimulation!" The branch   
quivered again. "Just do it and don't argue!"  
  
The limb began to extend toward them. Weaving its smaller   
branches until Ceres and Pallas had a platform to ride upon, the limb   
lifted them up into the air. They passed over the moat without   
incident. The limb lowered them to the far shore and they stepped off.   
However, as it was extending back into the air, the limb used several of   
its branches to flip the back of Ceres' skirt. She gasped out in shock,   
clapping her hands on her bottom, then turned and glared.  
  
"You better hope I need you to get back across this moat!" Ceres   
fumed. "Otherwise you're going to be the first tree that's tied into a   
pretzel!"  
  
Ceres stalked off, with a giggling Pallas following.  
  
"Honestly, the low class of plant life they have on this world,"   
muttered Ceres.  
  
Sailor Moon waited against the tower as Evionne flew Saturn over.   
She glanced at the tower wall, expecting it to try to bite her at any   
time. There was a sense of corruption to this place. It was strong and   
it was evil. She hadn't experienced sensations like this since Wise   
Man. She found herself longing for her mother and father's protection   
and she pushed the feeling aside.  
  
"I shall see if there is any entry point from above," Evionne   
said, then flew off before anyone could agree or disagree. Saturn   
looked at Sailor Moon.  
  
"Well, she's pleasant company," Saturn commented.  
  
"She's worried about Helios, too," Sailor Moon replied.  
  
"So what's the plan?"  
  
"We use your glaive to cut a hole in this wall, sneak in and try   
to find Helios before Ctesias knows we're here. Think you're up to it?"  
  
"I'll try," Saturn replied. Evionne rejoined them.  
  
"There is a courtyard in the center of the towers, but it holds   
little promise," reported Evionne. "There are no apparent doors or   
windows."  
  
"She probably conjures them up as she needs them," Saturn said.   
"Stand back."   
  
Saturn pulled the glaive back to swing. The glaive flew in a   
deadly arc. The blade disappeared into the stone for a few moments and   
came out at the bottom. It was hard to see at first, but there was a   
hair thin line through the stone.  
  
"A powerful weapon you wield," Evionne commented. She turned to   
Sailor Moon. "Are you not concerned that the sorceress will somehow   
sense us?"  
  
"Can't be helped," Sailor Moon said. "You can stay behind if you   
want."  
  
"When the safety of the Chosen One is both my desire and my duty?"   
Evionne bristled. "How little regard you have for me."  
  
"I meant no offense, Evionne," Sailor Moon told her as Saturn   
swung her glaive again in an opposite arc. "I know how much he means to   
you." Evionne looked away uncomfortably.  
  
"There," panted Saturn. "A medium sized shove should push   
through."  
  
"Are you all right?" Sailor Moon asked.  
  
"Just a little winded," Saturn said, then shot her a wry smile.   
"Cutting through stone isn't easy, you know." Sailor Moon returned the   
grin.  
  
Evionne stepped up to the cut stone and pushed against it with her   
hands. With a little effort, the cut area of the wall began to push in.   
Finally it reached a point where there was enough of a gap to squeeze   
in. Evionne turned back and nodded the two in.  
  
"You're pretty strong," Saturn marveled.   
  
"It was not I who cut through solid stone with a mere blade,"   
Evionne replied, nodding respectfully to Saturn. "In your case, the   
Princess has chosen her senshi well."  
  
Once inside, the trio eased down the hall as quickly as they   
could. Silence was paramount and they reluctantly sacrificed some speed   
to maintain stealth. Evionne took the lead, since she seemed to have   
some sensory bond with Helios. Some sense told Sailor Moon that the   
temple maiden was leading them correctly and she didn't question it.   
Saturn held her glaive at the ready, nervously looking from side to side   
in the gloomy corridor.  
  
As they walked, each one could sense the decay in the darkened   
hall. It reminded Sailor Moon of all the holo-movies she'd seen of   
explorers or adventurers walking through moldering tombs and crypts.   
The air around them seemed ancient. The walls seemed ancient. The   
floor seemed ancient.  
  
They turned a corner and found a door. On the wall to the left of   
the door were runes carved into the stone. Both Saturn and Evionne   
walked over to the wall and studied them. Sailor Moon concerned herself   
with the door. The door was made of a thick wood-like substance. There   
was no window, only an ancient lock and no key around. She pushed on   
the door, hoping against hope that it was unlocked. It wasn't.  
  
"I wonder what they mean," Saturn asked, looking at the carved   
symbols.  
  
"I don't know," Evionne whispered. "The symbols look familiar,   
though. One of the ancient tongues, I would guess. Were Ravonna here,   
she would be able to tell."  
  
"Saturn?" Sailor Moon said. "Do you think you can open this   
door?"  
  
Saturn nodded and crossed over to the door. Pulling back her   
glaive, she was about to swing.  
  
"No," Evionne interrupted. "That may cause too much noise or   
otherwise betray us." She pointed to the lock. "You need only cut the   
bolt."  
  
Saturn nodded and lowered the glaive. With a little effort, she   
managed to slide the blade in between the door and the stone frame the   
door rested in. Once the blade was in position, Saturn pushed down on   
the handle. The blade slid down like a guillotine. Each one heard the   
lock bolt sever. Sailor Moon was about to push the door open. Saturn   
held her back and insisted on going first, just in case.  
  
The first thing that caught Saturn's eye was the skull lying on   
the floor near a metal collar attached to the wall by a thick chain.   
The skull, draped in shadow and highlighted by the low light of the   
room, seemed eerily alive with its own manifestation of mortality.   
Saturn's breath caught, drawing the attention of both Evionne and Sailor   
Moon. They looked at it, too, with dread and revulsion.   
  
"That can't be human?" gasped Sailor Moon.  
  
"It looks like it was a horse once," Saturn answered softly, as if   
fearing to raise angry spirits. "But that protrusion in the center of   
the forehead is so weird. Could it have been a - - unicorn?  
  
"Could be. But what was it doing in here? And what were those   
chains for?"  
  
"Maiden . . ."  
  
Sailor Moon stood bolt upright.   
  
"Helios?" she gasped softly, fearfully, looking in all directions.   
"Helios?"  
  
And she locked upon him and her feet became like wings. Heedless   
of any possible threat, Sailor Moon flung herself over to where Helios   
was. He was in his Pegasus form, the crystal horn catching what little   
light there was and reflecting it. As she neared, though, horror slowed   
her gait to a crawl.  
  
"Chosen One," Evionne gulped out, her voice stricken and pale.  
  
"And you are here, too, dear Evionne?" Helios thought aloud, for   
it was the only way he could communicate in his Pegasus form. "You both   
must forgive me, I pray, for I am slightly worse for my ordeal."  
  
Saturn finally caught up and her hand went to her mouth. Helios   
rested on the floor of the room, buttressed against the wall for support   
with his legs curled beneath him. A steel collar around the equine's   
neck was connected to the wall by a stout chain. His manner was drained   
and listless. There were several ugly scars across his neck and chest   
- - blade wounds that had healed poorly. And his wings - - every   
feather had been viciously plucked from his wings. Saturn could see he   
lay upon some of them.  
  
Sailor Moon sank to her knees before him. She wrapped her arms   
around his neck, buried her face in his shoulder and began sobbing.   
Helios turned his head to her and nuzzled her pink coiffure.  
  
"Though my heart is joyous to see you again, Maiden," Helios said,   
"it pains me to see the distress my condition gives you. I wish with   
all my heart we met again under different circumstances."  
  
"Why did she do this to you?" sobbed Sailor Moon, clutching the   
equine tightly. "Why would she do this to anyone?" Not waiting for an   
answer, Sailor Moon pushed away and gathered herself. Helios watched   
her with curious sadness. "We have to get you out of here. Saturn, can   
you cut these chains?"  
  
There was no response.  
  
"Saturn?" Sailor Moon repeated. She turned around. "Evionne?"  
  
Instantly she fell backwards on her side. Not six feet away from   
her stood a statue of salt. It was shaped like Evionne and wore the   
most horrified expression. Behind it and to the left was Saturn. Her   
fuku was intact, but her glaive lay on the floor. Her body had been   
transmuted into a tree. Misshapen limbs reached out to Sailor Moon and   
gnarled roots dug into the stone floor. Sailor Moon could just make out   
in the bark the semblance of a face twisted in surprise and agony.  
  
"Maiden!" Helios said with alarm. "To your right!"  
  
Sailor Moon whirled, crouched and ready to move. Her heart   
thumped in her chest and her skin was electric with clammy perspiration.   
Standing before her was Ctesias.  
  
"I don't believe you were invited this time, Princess," Ctesias   
smiled. Her eyes caressed Sailor Moon with the touch of death.  
  
Continued in part 5 


	5. Forgive Us Our Trespasses

BLOOD OF THE IMMORTAL,  
Chapter 5: "Forgive Us Our Trespasses"  
  
By Bill K.  
  
It was not the first time she'd tried this stunt. Experimenting   
in Crystal Tokyo, Juno had experienced "dry diving", as she named it,   
and the wonders beneath the water. It was a fascinating experience, one   
she was eager to repeat.  
  
This was not like that. This was a foray into a dark, foreboding   
mire. Shadows were everywhere, absorbing the light like a sponge. The   
water further distorted things, making the moat a gauntlet of potential   
deadly hiding places for all sorts of potentially deadly creatures.  
  
"And naturally Vesta zips on ahead without being careful," thought   
Juno. "Who knows what's down here?"  
  
Vesta turned and glanced impatiently back at her. Shaking her   
head with annoyance, she swam back. It wasn't entirely her fault she   
was so far ahead. Her humanoid fish form was better equipped for speed   
in the water than Juno and she wasn't slowed by a traveling air pocket.  
  
The girl reached Juno and began gesturing at her impatiently. It   
was fortunate that they couldn't speak underwater or Juno would be   
getting an earful. Still Juno spotted enough gestures to get the gist   
of what Vesta meant. Her temper welling, Juno began violently gesturing   
back. Vesta soon cut her off with a particularly rude gesture and   
arrogantly swam off.  
  
"Oh, that stuck up little . . .!" fumed Juno. "I ought to stick   
that attitude of hers up . . ."   
  
Juno caught herself and forced herself to calm.   
  
"What's happening to me? I'm not like that anymore!" She glanced   
back at Vesta. "Is it affecting her, too? She's been pretty gruff ever   
since we got here."  
  
Pressing on, Juno swam down to the bottom of the moat. Vesta was   
already searching the rocks and crags at the bottom for some way in.   
Juno gave her one last look of concern, then swam off to the right.   
Mindful of how much air she had left, Juno searched along the moat wall.   
All she saw was jagged rock, silt, and more rock. There didn't seem to   
be life down here, let alone an opening to the towers, though Juno   
didn't let her guard down.  
  
"There's nothing down here," Juno thought. "Nothing." She   
stopped, moving and kicking to tread water. "We may as well head back   
up and try a different tact."  
  
Turning, Juno began to head back to Vesta, then stopped in shock.   
Vesta floated limp in the water, air bubbles escaping from her open   
mouth. Frantically cleaving the water, Juno reached her sister amazon   
in seconds. It was still far slower than she liked. Reaching Vesta,   
she saw the girl had transformed back to her human form and was   
drowning.   
  
Quickly pressing her shoulder into Vesta's midsection, Juno shot   
them to the surface as fast as she could stroke. When they broke the   
surface, Juno flung Vesta back so her face was above the surface of the   
water. Realizing she still wasn't breathing, Juno dragged the girl to   
shore and struggled to pull them both out of the water.  
  
"Aqua Initiation!" Juno yelled, her hands over Vesta's chest.   
Juno's control over water allowed her to draw the liquid from Vesta's   
lungs and it came bubbling out of her nose and mouth. Air rushed in to   
replace the vacuum and Juno began chest massage until Vesta's lungs   
began breathing on their own.  
  
"Vesta?" Juno asked, shaking her sister to wake her. "Vesta, wake   
up!"  
  
There was no response. Vesta looked very pale. Removing her   
glove, Juno felt Vesta's neck and forehead. The skin was cool and   
clammy. Panic welled up in the girl and she fought to keep control.   
Then she saw it. The wounds on Vesta's leg from the attack of the cat   
creatures were an unnatural green. Juno stared at it.  
  
"Poison?" Juno thought. "Those cat creatures - - are their claws   
coated in some venom?" All thoughts and influences of the corrupting   
landscape were suddenly banished from her by concern over her sister.   
Struggling to maintain her composure, Juno frantically searched her mind   
for what to do next. "Warm! Got to keep her warm first! Then find   
something to slow it or stop it! Hang on, Vesta! I won't let you die!"  
  
She shot to her feet and turned, and found a pack of cat creatures   
silently stalking her. The lead cat, the element of surprise lost,   
leaped at Sailor Juno, claws and teeth bared.  
* * * *  
"Change them back!" howled Sailor Moon. Ctesias stood between   
Evionne, now a salt statue, and Sailor Saturn, changed to a misshapen   
tree. Fear mixed with anger in the young girl's red eyes.  
  
"You come uninvited into my abode and then make demands upon me?"   
Ctesias asked, taunting her. "You disappoint me, Princess."  
  
"Do not take her on, Maiden!" warned Helios. "Escape if you can!"  
  
"Not without you!" Sailor Moon replied.   
  
"You shall go nowhere by any means, girl," Ctesias said. "You   
have wronged me and now you must be made to pay."  
  
"Me? What about you? You said Helios wasn't here! And look at   
what you've done to him!"  
  
Ctesias shrugged. The gesture further infuriated Sailor Moon.  
  
"Change them back!" she demanded.  
  
"They pay the penalty for trespass and so shall they remain for   
all eternity," Ctesias replied, daring her to object. But Sailor Moon   
did more than just object. She produced the Crescent Moon Wand.  
  
"Moon Healing Escalation!" she cried.   
  
Pink energy radiated out from the crystal embedded in the handle   
of the Wand. Ctesias threw her hand up over her eyes to shield herself   
from its brilliance. The energy surrounded the motionless forms of her   
two companions and they began to shimmer. Twin voices called out   
"Refresh" and Evionne and Sailor Saturn were restored to their proper   
forms.  
  
"Most impressive, Princess," Ctesias said calmly.  
  
She gestured once, as if flinging water from her hands. Once more   
tendrils from the floor rose up and surrounded the pair, meeting above   
them and then hardening into metal bars. In the blink of an eye, Saturn   
and Evionne were again prisoners, each in her own cage.  
  
"Do you have any other tricks?" Ctesias asked Sailor Moon.  
  
Goaded, Sailor Moon focused on Ctesias. "Moon Healing   
Escalation!" she cried. The pink radiation enveloped Ctesias. Her eyes   
closed and her face grew serene, her features changing from evil and   
arrogant to calm and wistful. Her hands folded across her chest. The   
corners of her mouth began to turn up.  
  
Then her eyes opened and the look was as joyously malicious as any   
Sailor Moon had ever encountered in her young life.  
  
Something pliant snapped around Sailor Moon's throat from behind.   
Reflexively her hands shot up to pry the choking wrap from her throat.   
The Crescent Moon Wand loudly clattered to the floor. Unable to resist,   
Sailor Moon was pulled back several steps toward the wall. Two more   
pliant entities wrapped around her wrists and dragged the girl's arms   
down to her waist. Then, impossibly, the pliant tendrils hardened into   
solid metal manacles around her wrists and throat and chains connecting   
her to the wall by her arms and neck. Sailor Moon pulled at the chains.   
They held effortlessly.  
  
"Perhaps one day you would have given me enough of a challenge to   
concern me," Ctesias smiled with arrogant triumph. "That day is not   
today."  
  
She reached down for the Crescent Wand. However, she stopped   
within inches of the pink and gold wand. Her face took on an expression   
of nausea and her hand began to shake. Ctesias withdrew and seemed to   
go back to normal.  
  
"There continues to be more to you than meets the eye, young   
Princess," scowled Ctesias. "No matter. If I cannot touch it, then   
neither shall you." She pointed to the floor and a thick bubble of   
stone formed over the Crescent Moon Wand, trapping it beneath.  
  
"Why are you doing this?" Sailor Moon demanded. "What are you   
going to do to us?"  
  
"Your companions mean nothing to me," Ctesias replied. "They   
shall starve to death before your eyes, only because I choose not to   
expend the time and energy it would require to kill them now." Her eyes   
narrowed. "As for you . . ."  
  
A wave of nausea passed over Ctesias. She stumbled back a step,   
clutching her middle. Before Sailor Moon's wondrous eyes, Ctesias   
seemed to age two decades in the blink of an eye. Swallowing back bile,   
the sorceress took several shaky steps toward Helios. The equine,   
resigned to his fate, did not seem to struggle. Opening her hands, she   
stopped and concentrated. In one hand, a gold chalice encrusted with   
rubies appeared. In the other appeared a curved knife with a gold hilt,   
a dragon carved upon it with small rubies for eyes.   
  
"What are you going to do?!" Sailor Moon demanded frantically.   
She pulled uselessly at her chains. "Stop! Stop it!"  
  
Ctesias bent down, holding the cup to Helios' chest, and cut   
across the white flesh swiftly and cleanly.  
  
"Nnnnnnnnnn!" groaned Helios, his eyes jammed shut.  
  
"Stop!" wailed Sailor Moon as red rivulets oozed from the fresh   
cut.   
  
The droplets trickled into the chalice, their crimson color almost   
regal against the shiny gold of the cup. As Sailor Moon sobbed openly   
and begged her to stop, Ctesias continued to bleed Helios into the cup   
until enough blood was collected. Then she straightened on unsteady   
legs, brought the cup to her mouth with shaky hands, and drank it down   
before her disgusted prisoners. When she downed the last drop, her arms   
fell to her sides, the knife and cup clattering onto the floor and   
vanishing. Her head lolled back. Her breathing grew stronger. The   
shakes disappeared from her arms. Her hands traveled up her stomach and   
sternum, cupping her chin and neck as her head righted itself. She wore   
an almost enraptured expression on her face, a face that was now   
restored to its previous youth and vigor. At length, she recovered   
from her ecstasy and refocused on Sailor Moon. The girl cried bitterly,   
staring at the vicious wound on Helios.  
  
"What shall become of you, Princess?" Ctesias told her, confident   
and uncaring again. "You interest me. You have power. I shall learn   
the secret of that power. I shall rip it from your breast and add it to   
my own. And then, because you amuse me, I shall keep you as a slave   
until you die - - or until you no longer amuse me." The corners of her   
mouth turned up wickedly. "But I am not completely heartless. I shall   
leave you now so you may nurse your stricken lover. We will have time   
later for ourselves. I have all the time in the world."  
  
Ctesias brought her hand up to her face, then passed it down the   
length of her sternum. She vanished from the room without a trace.  
  
"Helios?" Sailor Moon pleaded fearfully, straining at her chains.  
  
"Chosen One?" Evionne said, just as fearfully. "Please do not   
die!"  
  
"I shall not die," Helios thought aloud with the exhaustion of   
defeat. "Ctesias shall see to that."  
  
"Helios, I'll get you out of this," Sailor Moon vowed. "I promise   
I will! Please don't lose hope!"  
  
"I thank you, Maiden," Helios replied. "I shall try to take heart   
in your words. Forgive me my lack of vigor. It has been many months in   
her hands."  
  
"Months?" Sailor Moon asked. She looked to Saturn and Evionne.   
Each was equally perplexed.  
* * * *  
"OK, how do we get in?" Ceres asked. She and Sailor Pallas stood   
next to one of the towers.  
  
"It's a secret," smirked Pallas.  
  
"Listen, Stupid . . ."  
  
"Don't call Pallas stupid!"  
  
"Quiet!" hissed Ceres. "You want that scary Ctesias to find out   
we're here?" Pallas stuck out her lower lip. "Now if you have a way   
in, let's go so we can find Helios!"  
  
"Say please," Pallas huffed.  
  
Ceres stared at her. The girl's expression took on a subtle   
shift, looking at Sailor Pallas like she was mud on Ceres' shoes.  
  
"Fine, don't," Ceres shrugged, aloof. She turned and began   
walking back to the tree limb.  
  
"Beautiful Incantation," Pallas said, gesturing at the wall.  
  
Using her telekinetic power to shift the molecular density of the   
wall out of phase, Pallas stepped through as if she was wading through   
liquid. If you asked her how she did it, the girl couldn't tell you.   
It was something, like her prowess in math, which seemed to be a savant   
talent to her.   
  
When Ceres didn't follow, Pallas peered back out the wall. Ceres   
was down the bank, summoning the tree limb to ferry her across the moat.  
  
"Wait!" cried Pallas, scampering over to Ceres. "Don't you want   
to get into the tower and find the horsy-man?"  
  
"No," Ceres said imperiously.  
  
"Yes you do!"  
  
"Buzz off," sniffed Ceres grandly. "Gawd, you're so immature."  
  
"Don't be mean to Pallas!" Pallas shouted. "She'll send her   
lemeures after you!"  
  
"You don't even have lemeures anymore," scowled Ceres. "Baby!"  
  
Lunging, Pallas caught the limb as it lifted off with Ceres in   
tow, and held on as it traveled across the moat. She hung on   
desperately until it reached the other side, then dropped to the ground.   
Pallas sat on the ground and began softly crying.  
  
At first, Ceres arrogantly ignored her. But slowly her sister   
Amazon's sobbing began to penetrate the veil of the planet's influence   
on her. Ceres glanced back at her and sympathy flooded over her,   
washing out the corrupting influence. She walked over and knelt down   
next to the sobbing girl.  
  
"You were going to leave Pallas," Pallas wailed, "just like her   
mommy did!"  
  
"Pallas," Ceres whispered. "I'm sorry if I hurt you. It-it's   
this place. There's something about this place. Neither one of us are   
acting normally. Don't pay any attention to what I said or did."  
  
"Pallas is sorry if she was mean to you," the girl sniffled.   
"Things don't feel right. Things feel like they did with Granny   
Zirconia. Pallas doesn't understand."  
  
"It's all right," Ceres said, hugging Pallas. "You don't have to   
understand. I don't understand either. All we have to do is find   
Helios and get away from this awful place."  
  
Suddenly Pallas started wriggling inside of Ceres' embrace.   
Puzzled, Ceres pulled back.  
  
"Juno's in trouble!" Pallas cried, scrambling to her feet.   
"Pallas heard her!"  
  
"Aqua Initiation!" Juno shouted.  
  
At her command, the water from the moat rose up in a huge spout,   
then crashed down onto the attacking cat creatures. Swamped, they   
struggled to maintain their positions until the water dissipated. Some   
of the pride hung back after that, wary of Juno. The younger ones   
renewed their attacks.  
  
Undaunted, Juno waved at the puddled water on the ground. Small   
pellet-sized balls of water sprang up into the air and launched   
themselves at the attacking cats. Lent weight by their momentum, the   
water pellets struck the animals with painful rapid-fire precision.   
Several guttural howls resonated up from them and the cats gave ground.  
  
Allowing herself one glance at Vesta confirmed Juno's worst fears.   
While Vesta was still breathing, her breathing was shallow and her color   
was bad. Juno snapped back to the problem at hand. Much as it pained   
her, she couldn't worry about that now.  
  
Juno noticed the cats were split into three groups. The younger   
ones moved to repeat their frontal assault while the older cats stalked   
her from both sides, trying to surround her. Juno wondered for a moment   
if her rainstorm attack would be enough. Then she wondered if this   
strange world even had rain.  
  
"Beautiful Incantation!"  
  
The high-pitched squeal startled both the cats and Juno. It was   
followed by the cats on the left flank being bowled over by an invisible   
force. Cats pitched and sprawled into the center formation, knocking   
the others over. Gray-brown tendrils set upon the rest of the young   
from the moss patches, swirling and snapping at them like things alive.   
Some dodged and other were caught and squeezed into unconsciousness.   
Juno brought up another wave and swamped the cats on the right flank.   
It proved too much for the pride of cats and the ones conscious ran off.  
  
"Juno!" Pallas cried, leaping on the senshi and hugging her   
tightly. "Are you all right?"  
  
"Yeah," Juno grinned, returning the hug. "Thanks to you and   
Ceres."  
  
"What's wrong with Vesta?" Pallas whimpered. The question brought   
the thought to the front of Juno's mind. "She dying?!" Juno silently   
cursed her sister's power.  
  
"Vesta's dying?" gasped Ceres.  
  
"Yeah," grimaced Juno, checking on Vesta so she didn't have to   
face the others. "Those cat things have a venom in their claws. It's   
poisoned her."  
  
"Juno, we have to help her!" Pallas cried.  
  
"Pallas," Juno told her helplessly, "I don't know how."  
  
Continued in part 6 


	6. The Song Of Ctesias

BLOOD OF THE IMMORTAL,  
Chapter 6: "The Song of Ctesias"  
  
By Bill K.  
  
"We have to do something!" howled Pallas. She looked down at   
Vesta. The girl was cool and ashen. Her chest barely rose.  
  
"I'm trying, Pallas," Sailor Juno said. She gathered branches and   
twigs together, arranging them over Vesta's body. "Ceres, can you grow   
some of that moss so this is covered?"  
  
"Yeah," Ceres responded blankly. "But what good will that do?"  
  
"It'll trap her body heat," Juno said distantly. "Keep her from   
dying of hypothermia."  
  
"Juno, she's been poisoned!"  
  
"I know that! But if we don't keep her warm, the hypothermia will   
get her first!"   
  
Juno gathered more branches together in a pile next to Vesta. She   
ripped branches from a nearby bush, enduring scratches that were clearly   
painful with stony silence. The girl tore her sailor kerchief from her   
neck and wrapped it around the sticks, then took two rocks and snapped   
them against each other, trying to produce a spark.  
  
"Juno, Vesta's gonna die!" whimpered Pallas.  
  
"She's not going to die!" roared Juno. "We are not going to let   
her die! We've all been through too much!" Juno furiously pounded on   
the rocks. By sheer force of will she generated a spark and ignited the   
kerchief. Quickly a fire began.  
  
"But how do we stop the poison?" Pallas asked, biting her lip.  
  
"I'm working on it, Pallas," Juno pleaded.  
  
"You don't know, do you?" Pallas whimpered. Juno looked at her   
helplessly.  
  
"I know," a voice said timidly.  
  
Pallas turned around. No one seemed to be there.  
  
"Who said that?" Pallas asked.  
  
"Said what?" Ceres queried.  
  
"Somebody said they knew how to stop the poison. Pallas heard   
them."  
  
"Do you suppose you 'heard' someone's thoughts?"  
  
"It was like that, but different." Pallas looked down and saw a   
small rodent standing by a patch of moss. "Did you talk to me?"  
  
"Pallas, that's a mouse," Ceres grumbled. "I think."  
  
"I did," the rodent said. "If it please you, great one, I can try   
to be of assistance."  
  
The girl's face lit up. "Oh yes, Mr. Mousie-Sir! We're ever so   
desperate! Pallas doesn't want her big sister to die!"  
  
"Pallas," Ceres scowled. "You're talking - - to a mouse."  
  
"Oh, poo on you!" Pallas barked. "Don't mind her, Mr. Mousie-Sir.   
Please tell Pallas how to help Vesta."  
  
The mouse turned and skittered away from them. Pallas followed   
diligently. Ceres began to say something, then waved her hand   
dismissively.  
  
"Well," the rodent said, hugging the moss beds, "it is said that   
the root of the murn bush will stop the poison of the moab." The rodent   
hesitated. "I have never seen it with my own eyes, though. Those who   
fall to the venom of the moab never live long enough to find one - - at   
least none that I have seen. I admit, I have only seen those of my kind   
and other prey of the moab fall to the venom. Never have I witnessed   
one last so long as your sister." The rodent focused on its path ahead.   
"Of course, it should not amaze me. You are gods, after all."  
  
"Pallas isn't a god," giggled Pallas. "She's a girl."  
  
"Here is the murn bush," the rodent said, pointing with its paw to   
a sparse brown bush with prickly branches. "But - - forgive me for   
disagreeing with you - - but you fought off a moab hunting pride! You   
make the wind and the water dance! You make fire from rocks! Surely   
you must be gods!"  
  
"Pallas isn't a god," Pallas smiled gently, tugging on the part of   
the root exposed to the surface. "Pallas is just special. Sensei tells   
her that and he would never lie." Pallas frowned at the bush and then   
pointed. "Beautiful Incantation!"  
  
Her telekinetic power seized the bush and ripped it from the   
ground. As dirt clods flew, the rodent backed up, awestruck. Pallas   
flipped the bush over and dropped it, then broke off a piece of root.  
  
"Come on!" Pallas said, hurrying off. "Pallas has to get this to   
Vesta!"  
  
"Truly gods," gasped the rodent, scampering after her.  
  
"What's your name?" Pallas asked as she ran.  
  
"Name? What is name?" the rodent asked.  
  
"A name is what people call you. Or in your case, what the other   
mousies call you."  
  
"Call me?"  
  
"You know, who you are."  
  
"I am me," struggled the rodent. "I know nothing else."  
  
"Pallas is very pleased to meet you, Me," Pallas grinned sweetly.   
"Pallas hopes she can be your friend."  
  
"Friend?" the rodent asked. "I do not understand."  
  
"Pallas will explain later," Pallas said as they neared the others.   
Juno and Ceres were hunched over Vesta. "She's not . . .?" Pallas   
gasped.  
  
"Not yet," Juno whispered in defeat.  
  
"Me, what does Pallas do now?" Pallas asked the rodent. Ceres   
only stared.  
  
"Put the root in her mouth," Me instructed. "Since she cannot   
gnaw on it, she will have to suck on it."  
  
Pallas bent down and forced the root into Vesta's mouth. She   
squatted down next to her sister, the rodent by her side.  
  
"What are you doing?" snapped Ceres.  
  
"Pallas is trying to help Vesta get well," Pallas said, her worry   
a thing alive.  
  
"What makes you think that'll do anything?" Ceres asked.  
  
"Me told Pallas," Pallas replied.  
  
"What?"  
  
"The Mousie!" huffed Pallas. "His name is Me. He says this will   
stop the poison."  
  
"So what is he, a little mouse doctor?" scowled Ceres.  
  
"Pallas doesn't think so," Pallas said blankly. "But she didn't   
really ask."  
  
Ceres was about to respond, but Juno caught her arm. "Let her be.   
I don't have anything better to try," Juno told her. "Do you?" Ceres   
looked down. "Maybe the mouse knows what it's talking about."  
  
"Juno, it's a mouse!" Ceres huffed.  
  
"Stranger things have happened," Juno replied, stroking Vesta's   
forehead.  
* * * *  
Sailor Saturn reached through the narrow bars of her cage, her   
fingertips straining for her glaive. The long handle of the blade lay   
tantalizingly out of reach. Her arm felt that it was about to pop out   
of the shoulder as she stretched for it. It was imperative she reach it.   
But the glaive just wouldn't come any closer to her. Out of the corner   
of her eye, she could see Sailor Moon straining with her foot to reach   
the stone cover over the Crescent Moon Wand that lay on the floor just   
out of reach, too. Seeing Sailor Moon's struggles made Saturn try even   
harder. She made one last desperate lunge that fell short, then sagged   
against the bars.  
  
"I can't reach it," Saturn lamented, slapping the bars in   
frustration. "I'm sorry, Sailor Moon."  
  
"Have you tried your mental power?" Sailor Moon asked.  
  
"No. I've never tried to lift anything before. Sensei and I   
haven't gotten that far in class yet. I just started." Saturn looked   
down, slightly embarrassed. "And I'm still kind of scared to use it."  
  
"It won't hurt to try."  
  
"OK," Saturn said reluctantly.  
  
Concentrating on the glaive, Saturn tried to force her mind to   
reach out for it. She strained, hoping to feel the familiar push and at   
the same time dreading it. Sweat began to form on her brow. She didn't   
want to let her friend down. That seemed to spur her desperation and in   
turn kicked her power in gear.  
  
She felt her mind push. The glaive skidded across the floor and   
struck the far wall, then came to rest.  
  
"Well that really worked out great," muttered Saturn.  
  
"I fear I am doing no better," Evionne said. She strained again   
to pull the bars of her cage apart, to no avail. Frustrated, Evionne   
leaned her forehead against the bars. "For all my bluster and anger, I   
have done nothing to aid the Chosen One. Nothing!"  
  
"We're not finished yet," Sailor Moon told them, wriggling her   
wrists in the manacles in an attempt to slip them. "And Juno and the   
others are still around. They haven't been caught - - I don't think."  
  
"You are always so confident," Evionne said. "And everyone trusts   
you so. You even managed to turn the evil ones into allies that do your   
every whim." Evionne looked down. "He was right to choose you," she   
said bitterly. "You have so much more to offer him than I do. All I   
have is my eternal devotion to him."  
  
"That's all any man should want," Sailor Moon told her. "Don't   
hate yourself, Evionne. What happened between the three of us was never   
because you were second rate."  
  
"You even make it difficult to hate you, Princess."  
  
"Well, that's a good thing, too," Sailor Moon grinned   
self-consciously. The corners of Evionne's mouth began to curl. The   
girls exchanged timid looks and blushing smiles.  
  
Helios began to stir. Everyone held her breath.  
  
"Helios, say something!" Sailor Moon begged.  
  
"I am sorry you were involved in this, Maiden," Helios thought   
aloud. The equine shifted weakly. His tone was laced with pain and   
fatigue.  
  
"Chosen One, what is all this about? Who is this evil woman?"   
asked Evionne.  
  
Helios expelled a sigh. "Ctesias is a sorceress - - a very   
powerful sorceress. Her power and knowledge have grown because of her   
long life, her research into arcane magicks and her boldness in seizing   
power." He sighed again, as if thinking about it burdened him. "But   
power and longevity have robbed her of any shred of compassion for   
others. All who exist are pawns to her whims. Their suffering is   
unimportant in comparison to her desires. Their pain allows her to feel   
once more."  
  
"You speak like you know her," Saturn ventured.  
  
"I do not. I was aware of her. Being the guardian of the realm   
of dreams gives me access to knowledge from many worlds. I knew of   
Ctesias by reputation, of how her lust for power and immortality plunged   
this world into corruption and annihilated all who lived here, save for   
her and some lower creatures."  
  
"Yeah, we met some of them," Saturn said.  
  
"Immortality?" whispered Evionne. "Chosen One - - you do not mean   
. . .?" Helios lowered his head.  
  
"What?" Sailor Moon demanded. "What's Evionne talking about?   
What does Ctesias want with you?"  
  
"She wants my blood," Helios replied. Saturn and Sailor Moon   
stared in shock. "It is an ancient truth, Maiden. Due to their   
pristine innocence, the unicorn was a sacred and divine beast. Because   
of this, the blood of the unicorn can bestow prolonged youth and   
vitality to those who know how to exploit its properties. Ctesias knows   
this all too well."  
  
"Y-Your . . ." Sailor Moon whispered softly, not wanting to even   
vocalize the concept. "But you're a pegasus! You're not a unicorn!"  
  
"The blood of the unicorn runs in my veins, Maiden," Helios told   
her. "My crystal horn and my equine form are the heritage of that   
blood. Though I am not a true unicorn - - they were hunted to   
extinction, chief among them by Ctesias herself - - I possess many like   
characteristics."  
  
"But the last unicorn sighting was supposedly three thousand years   
ago," Saturn said. "How old is Ctesias?"  
  
"Thousands of years old," Helios replied. "Perhaps tens of   
thousands. She is older than your mother, Maiden - - older than your   
mother's mother. She hunted unicorns for many years to drink their   
blood and keep her youth. It was she who killed the last unicorn   
centuries ago. His skull is the skull you saw when you entered."   
Helios grimaced in pain. "He was my father."  
  
"H-Helios!" gasped Sailor Moon, her heart going out to her love.  
  
"It was a unique romance, possible only in Elysian where all   
things are possible," explained Helios, while Evionne hung her head.   
"It was a love that spawned and grew between a gentle woman, the chosen   
guardian of Elysian - - my mother Candide - - and the last unicorn,   
Rysthios, who sought refuge in Elysian when his kind were slaughtered.   
She told me stories of his kindness, of his gentleness, of his caring   
grace and of his great strength. She told me he was a virtuous soul,   
more virtuous than all known virtue. They were very much in love - - so   
she told me. I never knew my father."  
  
"What happened?" Sailor Moon asked.  
  
"Mere weeks after my birth, he disappeared. Mother was   
devastated. She sensed danger stalked him but, burdened with me, she   
could not search for him. In her stead she sent her two temple   
man-servants to search. They searched far and wide. They were gone for   
years. And through that time she pined for him. She tried to hide her   
pain from me, but even at my young age I knew. Then one day she stopped   
in the middle of a prayer and began to weep. Her man-servants returned   
soon after with no trace of him to report, only to find my mother in   
tears. She knew it was too late." Helios paused, gathering his   
emotions. "She cried for many days after that. She said she knew he   
was dead. She did not know who or where or how or why, but she knew.   
Mother lavished even more love upon me to make up for the love she could   
no longer give to my father. As I grew older, though, I wished I could   
sacrifice some of the love she gave me if it would only fill the hole in   
her heart."  
  
Saturn wiped tears from her eyes. She glanced at Evionne. The   
temple maiden knew the tale and only bowed her head in respect.  
  
"She's not going to kill you!" Sailor Moon said, straining at her   
shackles. "I won't allow it!"  
  
"She will not kill me, Maiden," Helios said in resignation.   
"Since my blood is not pure unicorn, its effects do not last. But I am   
the last of my kind, so she has nowhere else to turn."  
  
"What's she going to do?" Sailor Moon asked fearfully.  
  
"She plans to keep me alive for all eternity," he told her gently,   
"to bleed me when she begins to feel her many years." The pegasus   
shuddered. "I will become her captive fountain of youth. And the true   
horror is that time passes differently in this place. A day here is as   
a moment elsewhere. I have already spent so much time here, alone and   
without hope - - and it is but the first moment of the rest of my   
eternity."  
  
The girls looked on helplessly.  
  
"And now you are in her clutches as well, doomed to an eternity of   
debasement and servitude. And we do not even have the release of death   
to look forward to."  
  
Sailor Moon looked at her love, wishing she could do something,   
anything to help him. She heard the words of her mother, warning her.   
"Not every person in the universe is a nice person." Understated words,   
but oh so true. In her blind arrogance and headlong concern for Helios,   
she'd ignored the warning and was now paying for it. And what was   
worse, so was Helios and Saturn and Evionne.  
  
What she wouldn't give to see her mother and father now.  
  
In her throne room, Ctesias watched the prisoners in her dungeon   
through a mystic portal. She absently stroked the moab on her lap while   
she watched. Her eyes twinkled in the low light and her mouth pulled   
back to reveal white teeth. The feline uttered a low, gutteral sound   
that could have been a purr.  
  
"Soon," Ctesias told the feline. "Soon I will come for this   
pampered little princess. But she must give way to the hopelessness of   
her situation first. I wish to taste her sweet despair. Her horror and   
her desperation are but the first ingredients of the wondrous soufflé I   
am preparing."  
  
"May I kill the other two?" the creature asked. Ctesias heard him   
through the wonders of her magic. The feline stared up at her,   
inquiring and hopeful.  
  
"No," she smiled, stroking the cat creature's fur, "you may not   
kill the others. Watching them slowly whither away to nothing will make   
her pain last that much longer. It will not be as intense as if she   
helplessly watched you rend her friends, but it will be more   
satisfying."  
  
The feline seemed to growl petulantly at her. "May I at least eat   
them when they are dead?" he ventured.  
  
"Yes, my greedy little moab," and she scratched him under his   
chin. "You may eat them when they are dead. And you may eat them in   
front of the Princess and her consort, too. Her reaction will amuse   
me."  
  
The moab seemed mollified momentarily. Then the feline let out a   
low warning tone. "What if the others come?"  
  
"What of it? I do not concern myself with lessers," Ctesias said   
haughtily. "Should they try to rescue their Princess, I will destroy   
them. If they do not, I will not concern myself with them." She looked   
down from her portal to the moab. "Do you grow restless again?"  
  
"It has been a while," he replied reproachfully. The moab glanced   
up at her, content in his right to feel as he did.  
  
"One day you will overstep yourself, little moab," Ctesias said,   
smiling cynically. "Very well."  
  
She snapped her fingers once and some thirty feet in the distance   
one of the rodents from outside appeared. Disoriented, it looked   
around, its nose sniffing the air, until a blur of motion and a quick   
whiff told it that a moab stalked it. Instantly the rodent was off   
across the floor, scurrying for any cover it could turn up, the moab   
scampering after it. As she watched her pet chase the rodent through   
the room, Ctesias felt the young dragon land and perch atop her throne.   
Lazily she stuck her hand up into the air. The dragon caught a finger   
in its beak and gave it a painful twist, then nuzzled the hand with its   
cheek.  
  
"Watch closely, dragon," Ctesias said. "You're going to get your   
first lesson in hunting and killing."  
  
The dragon peered down with keen interest.  
  
Continued in chapter 7 


	7. To Resist The Lure Of Evil

BLOOD OF THE IMMORTAL,  
Chapter 7: "To Resist The Lure Of Evil"  
  
By Bill K.  
  
"Is she any better?" Pallas asked.  
  
"She's no worse," Juno replied, checking Vesta as she lay. "Maybe   
the root is helping."  
  
"Did you hear that, Me?" Pallas said, searching for her rodent   
companion. "Me? Where'd you go?"  
  
"Maybe he had some grain to loot," Ceres commented. Pallas   
ignored her, focusing on her search, but Juno gave Ceres a look of   
disapproval. "What? It's just a mouse!"  
  
"A mouse that may have saved Vesta's life," Juno cautioned. "A   
little gratitude might be in order."  
  
"OK, OK, I'm grateful," grumbled Ceres. "But this doesn't change   
the fact that mice are icky!"  
  
Pallas finally spotted Me with another rodent. She watched in   
fascination as the pair seemed to communicate. The other rodent then   
noticed Pallas watching and disappeared into the underbrush. Me turned   
and walked back over to them.  
  
"Is that your wife, Me?" Pallas asked.  
  
"Wife?" Me asked. "My mate? No. She is of my litter. Another   
of our litter has vanished. We fear The Evil One has taken him into the   
tower."  
  
"Pallas is sorry, Me," Pallas said. "But maybe he'll be all   
right."  
  
"No," the rodent replied gravely, shaking its head. "The Evil One   
will see to that. We all live at The Evil One's whim, Great Pallas.   
She controls the air and the earth. She nourishes that which pleases   
her and destroys that which does not. Even the terrible moab live in   
fear of her. She is the giver of pain and darkness. She has ever been   
so." The rodent seemed to sigh. "If my litter-mate has been taken into   
the towers, he is lost. None have ever gone into the towers and   
returned."  
  
"Pallas and her sisters did," Pallas said, trying to encourage   
him. She heard Juno hiss to her and scrambled back to Vesta's side.   
  
"It is different with you," Me mused. "You are gods."  
  
"What is it? Is it Vesta? Is she . . .?" babbled Pallas.  
  
"Who put this yucky root in my mouth?" groaned Vesta. "P-TUI!"  
  
"VESTA, YOU'RE ALL RIGHT!" cried Pallas.  
  
"Boy, nothing gets past you," Vesta muttered weakly.  
  
"Hush!" Juno growled playfully, jamming the root back into Vesta's   
mouth. Vesta tried to resist, but she was still too feeble. "Now chew   
on that!"  
  
"BLEGH! Taste's yucky!" Vesta mumbled around the root.  
  
"Do it! It'll make you stronger!" Vesta made a face. "Do it or   
I'll kick your ass!" Vesta glared, but she began to chew. "That root   
saved your life, Vesta, and you have Pallas to thank for it."  
  
"It's still tastes yucky!" Vesta fumed. Then she turned to Pallas   
and softened. "Hey, thanks for the save, kid. I owe you."  
  
"Don't forget about the rat," teased Ceres. "You owe him, too."  
  
"ME'S A MOUSIE, NOT A RAT!" roared Pallas. Ceres waggled her   
tongue at Pallas.  
  
"What are they talking about?" Vesta asked Juno.  
  
"When you're stronger," Juno grinned.  
  
"And what exactly happened anyway? The last thing I remember is   
being in the moat."  
  
"Nothing much," Juno smiled, her eyes tearing. "We just came this   
close to losing you for good." She sniffled. "We're still trying to   
figure out if that's a good or a bad thing."  
  
And Me stared curiously, unable to decipher the ways of gods.  
* * * *  
Evionne strained once more against the bars of her cage. Again   
they held. She turned in silent frustration to Sailor Saturn in the   
cage next to her. Saturn stared at the bars, trying to force them apart   
with her budding mental powers. The only evidence of this was the   
strain evident on her face, because the bars of the cage did not move.   
Finally she sagged back against the cage.  
  
"I can't move them at all," Saturn moaned. "I guess I'm just not   
good enough yet with this ESP stuff."  
  
"Mayhap the bars are enchanted, too," Evionne told her. "As much   
as I've pulled, they should have budged a bit."  
  
They both looked over to Sailor Moon.  
  
"Helios?" Sailor Moon inquired to the still equine. She pulled   
against her chains.   
  
"I am here, Maiden," Helios replied. "Do not fret so. I am more   
hale than I appear." He pulled his head up with some effort. "Forgive   
me for not telling you this sooner. It is nice to see you again.   
Though I wish the circumstances were different, any chance I have to be   
with you only invigorates me."  
  
Sailor Moon smiled timidly. Saturn noticed Evionne look away.  
  
"Maybe you could slip that collar if you change back to your human   
form," Sailor Moon suggested.   
  
"I have tried," Helios said. "Ctesias needs me in my current   
form, so by her spell I am trapped this way."  
  
They all noticed Sailor Moon's expression crumble into anguish.   
She began pulling uselessly at her fetters.  
  
"Maiden?" Helios said. "I beg you, please do not lose hope."  
  
"But," Sailor Moon sobbed, "I-I can't stand seeing you suffer like   
this! And I can't do anything! Damn that woman! Damn that   
evil . . .!"  
  
"Maiden," Helios spoke sharply, yet gently. "Take heart. Do not   
succumb to the malevolence of this realm."  
  
"But it's not fair!" Sailor Moon cried. "You've never done   
anything to anyone! You're the nicest, kindest person I've ever known!   
And these people keep coming after you! I hate them!"  
  
"Maiden, please," Helios persisted. "Do not give in to the evil   
of this place. Do not stain your soul in such a manner. Your light is   
our beacon - - our path to deliverance. Your shining light is our   
warmth and our succor. Do not let it be dimmed by hatred and despair.   
Do not let her dim it. It is your greatest weapon against her. Do not   
throw it away in a fit of weakness."  
  
"Mama could get us out of this," Sailor Moon mumbled.  
  
"So can you," Saturn told her. "You're her daughter. You're just   
as good as her."  
  
"Cling to that brilliant light, Maiden," Helios advised her.   
"Nurture it. Make it glow like a sun. Do not give in to the darkness."   
Helios shifted weakly. "I may be lost regardless."  
  
"Helios, no!" sobbed Sailor Moon.  
  
"I do not embrace it, Maiden, but I accept its possibility. If it   
comes to pass, know I will live free in you even if I am chained here   
for a billion years. I am yours, Maiden, now and forever. If you   
escape, I will be by your side, even if it is only in spirit. But if   
you succumb to the hopelessness that surrounds you, then we are all lost   
- - you, me, Evionne, your senshi - - all of us." Sailor Moon stared at   
the floor. She could not look at him, fearing she would burst into   
tears again.  
  
"Perseverance, Princess," Evionne said, avoiding her eyes. "A   
weak bride is not worthy of The Chosen One."  
  
Before anyone could respond, the four sensed a presence in the   
room. Emerging from the shadows as if materializing from nothingness,   
Ctesias appeared. She seemed to float across the room, her white gown   
wafting out and her long white hair flowing behind her. It was as if   
her feet hovered an inch off the floor. Her mood was confident,   
serenely pleased with herself. Helios eyed her cold beauty warily until   
she passed by him. Even then, there was clearly concern on his face.   
Ctesias stopped before Sailor Moon, towering over her. Sailor Moon said   
nothing, but she didn't shy away.  
  
"Forgive me for not attending to you sooner, Princess," Ctesias   
smiled coldly. "I hope you didn't grow too bored while waiting."  
  
"Let us go," Sailor Moon said.  
  
"A request I must refuse," Ctesias said.  
  
She gestured and Sailor Moon was pulled to her feet, pulled off   
her feet into the air. The chains attached to her wrist and neck   
shackles drew tight, painfully constricting her throat. Sailor Moon   
tried to be bravely stoic, but began to gag and choke audibly after   
several moments of this. It took her several more moments to regain her   
breath. Her captor drank it all in, her face right up in Sailor Moon's,   
so close that she could see every pore.  
  
"Leave her alone!" cried Saturn. Ctesias ignored her.  
  
"You and I have something to discuss, Princess," Ctesias said, her   
hot breath scorching Sailor Moon's cheeks. "You possess power. This   
interests me. Where do you come by this power?"  
  
"Let Helios and my friends go first," Sailor Moon choked out. The   
chains and Ctesias's power held her body rigid.  
  
"You seek to bargain again?" smiled Ctesias. "Little Princess,   
you are in no position to bargain now. You have trespassed against me   
and now belong to me, as do your friends. As such, you will tell me   
what I wish to know."  
  
Sailor Moon remained defiantly silent.  
  
"If you wish," Ctesias leered, "we can play that way as well."  
  
And with a thought, Sailor Moon seemed to burst into flame.  
  
"MAIDEN!" Helios gasped, horrified.  
  
"Usa!" cried Saturn.  
  
A terrified shriek ripped from Sailor Moon's mouth. It quickly   
mutated into a deep, resonant howl of intense pain. Helios,   
reinvigorated by desperation, thrashed in the grip of his fetters in a   
futile attempt to reach his love. Evionne gripped the bars of her cage   
and stared in abject horror. Saturn looked on helplessly as her friend   
was immolated.  
  
"Wait!" Saturn gasped. "Her skin's not burning! It's an   
illusion!"  
  
"True," smirked Ctesias. "I have need of her still. It would not   
aid my cause to permanently damage her - - just yet. But though the   
flames are not real, they are real in her mind. She feels every moment   
as if she were actually burning." Ctesias peeked back joyously at the   
other prisoners. "Can you not tell by her screams?"  
  
"Monster!" spat Evionne. "Were I free . . .!"  
  
"That," Ctesias said dismissively, "you shall never be."  
  
Sailor Moon continued to shake in the grip of the chains,   
shrieking from the intense pain she felt. Overcome with anguish, Helios   
hid his eyes from the sight.  
  
"This is the price of defiance, Little Princess," Ctesias   
whispered to the thrashing girl. "It is a very heavy toll."  
  
"Stop it!" pleaded Saturn.  
  
"No doubt you are already prepared to talk," Ctesias said. "How   
unfortunate for you that I am not yet ready to listen."  
  
"You're killing her!"  
  
"Fool!" sneered the sorceress. "Of what use would she be then? I   
merely take her to the brink, the better to stamp out any thoughts of   
defiance or deception."  
  
"STOP IT!"  
  
It sprang from Saturn's mind, lunging between the bars and flew   
towards Ctesias before Saturn was even aware of it. Saturn's mental   
blast pierced the sorceress's skull and she froze up as if shot. The   
phantom flames died away and Sailor Moon crumpled limply to the floor,   
shuddering with the painful sobs that wracked her body. Ctesias   
followed, falling to her knees. Her eyes were wide and uncomprehending.   
Her hands shook with a strange palsy.  
  
Without thinking, Saturn let loose another blast at the bars of   
her cage. They buckled like tin before the unseen force and snapped   
apart. Saturn shoved her way out and sprinted across the room for her   
glaive. She retrieved the weapon and looked up.  
  
Ctesias was already up. She still shook from the effects of the   
mental blast, but her face was twisted in rage.  
  
I do not know what you did," fumed Ctesias, "but you will not do   
it again!"  
  
"SILENCE GLAIVE S. . .!" Saturn began, hoisting her glaive into   
the air to deliver a killing stroke.  
  
Ctesias thrust her hands out, as if to ward off the blow, but it   
was more. A power seized Saturn, freezing her in mid-sentence. The   
girl's body went rigid. Her eyes glazed over. The color of her skin   
and of her uniform seemed to fade to a dull gray. Evionne dropped her   
gaze in anger and frustration. Sailor Saturn was now a stone statue.  
  
"You affected me more than I thought, girl," muttered Ctesias   
venomously. "I meant to vaporize you where you stood." She turned back   
to Sailor Moon. "No matter. I can always use another statue for my   
halls. Now Princess . . ." and she levitated the shuddering girl into   
the air once more.  
  
"Leave her alone!" Helios demanded impotently.  
  
"Quiet! I need you alive, but I do not need you in perfect   
health!" A gesture materialized a lead weight into the air. It dropped   
onto one of the equine's back legs, snapping the bone. Helios' face   
twisted in agony, but he did not cry out.  
  
"Chosen one!" wailed Evionne.  
  
Sailor Moon opened her eyes as much as she could. The lids still   
drooped over the red orbs, awash in tears of suffering. Though her body   
still quivered from what it had endured, she forced herself to focus on   
her tormentor and on the sight behind her of Sailor Saturn cast in   
stone.  
  
"Now, Princess," Ctesias glared, her mood no longer jaunty. "What   
is your source of power?"  
  
"Change her back," Sailor Moon whispered hoarsely.  
  
"You still misunderstand," Ctesias frowned. "You are no longer in   
any position to make demands, Little Princess. Your companion offended   
me and so shall stay that way for all time." Ctesias leaned in until   
she was nose to nose with the pink-haired girl. "Now speak while you   
are still able."  
  
Sailor Moon stared into those cold eyes and saw no pity in them.   
She averted her gaze, looking away, and remained silent.  
  
"I shall know what I want to know," Ctesias growled at her. "Your   
resistance only allows me to indulge myself by torturing you."   
  
And Sailor Moon vanished.  
* * * *  
Sailor Vesta tried to stand up. However, her legs wouldn't hold   
her and she crumpled back to the ground.  
  
"Don't rush yourself," admonished Juno. "You're still pretty   
weak."  
  
"Don't baby me," growled Vesta.  
  
"Baby you?" gasped Ceres. "You nearly died!"  
  
"Well, I'm," and Vesta paused as a wave of nausea swept over her,   
"um, better now."  
  
"Oh, right," sneered Ceres.  
  
"Vesta, maybe you ought to sit this one out," Juno recommended.  
  
"Sailor Moon probably needs us," countered Vesta. "How long has   
she been in there? I don't like it!"  
  
"I don't like it, either. But what good are we going to be if   
we're looking for her with one eye on you?"  
  
"I'll hold up my end," Vesta growled.  
  
"You can't even stand up. Just wait out here for us."  
  
"Oh, so those cats can get me?"  
  
"She's got a point," Ceres offered.  
  
"Maybe you can wait up in that tree?" Juno suggested.  
  
"Maybe they can climb trees," Vesta countered. Juno huffed in   
frustration. "Look, how about I just take a form that doesn't need me   
to stand. Fauna assimilation - house fly!"   
  
Vesta's body contracted in on itself until it was a little black   
speck circling them. Juno and Ceres looked on with concern.  
  
"Are you sure you're going to be all right?" Ceres asked. "Oh, I   
don't even know if you can understand me now!" As if in response, the   
fly headed straight for Ceres' nose, then veered off to avoid the girl's   
hand trying to swat her away. "Vesta! Quit it!"  
  
"OK, let's go," sighed Juno. "But you be careful, Vesta. Come   
on, Pallas!"  
  
Pallas leaned over and smiled at Me.  
  
"Pallas has to go now, Me," Pallas chirped. "Pallas has to help   
her sisters find the Princess."  
  
"Please, Oh Great Pallas," begged the rodent. "Do not venture   
into the towers, I beg you! Only death and evil await you there!"  
  
"Pallas knows," Pallas said. "But Pallas has to find the   
Princess. She has to protect the Princess - - even if it means going to   
Heaven."  
  
The rodent bowed its head. "I shall look for you to return, Oh   
Great Pallas. If any can return from the towers, it is you. If any can   
free us from the grip of The Evil One, I hope it is you. I hope to see   
you return safely with your Princess."  
  
"Thank you, Me," smiled Pallas. "Watch out for the nasty   
kitties!" and Pallas scampered off to join her fellow senshi.  
* * * *  
One moment she was in the grip of heavy chains, held aloft by   
Ctesias. The next moment she was spread-eagle on a lattice of gossamer   
threads. She tried to rise up, but the threads proved deceptively   
strong and possessed a substance that adhered to her. The girl thrashed   
on the lattice in an attempt to pull free, but succeeded only in   
jiggling the threads.  
  
"It's not real," Sailor Moon told herself, her body still weak and   
pained from her last ordeal. "It can't be. It's another one of her   
illusions. She's just trying to scare you."  
  
It was working. She was scared.  
  
A tremor on the thread caught her attention. Sailor Moon turned   
as much as the sticky substance entangled in her pink hair would allow.   
A spasm of raw, fear-induced adrenaline shot through her body. At the   
edge of the lattice, shaped like a spider's web, was a huge blob with   
eight protruding legs. Sailor Moon forced her heart out of her throat.   
It was as big as a jump-craft. It couldn't be real.  
  
The blob nimbly skittered along one of the strands of the web,   
edging closer, stalking Sailor Moon to determine if she was prey. As it   
got closer, she could make out more features. It was a giant spider,   
with a small head mounted on a giant black blob of an abdomen. Multiple   
eyes decorated the head, along with a pair of menacing fangs in the   
front. Fine black hair covered the monstrous arachnid. Sailor Moon   
felt her throat constrict from fear and revulsion. Her body was on edge   
with a terror she could only believe was primal, some long forgotten   
race memory of some evolutionary ancestor's reaction to being prey. Her   
mind struggled with her body, trying to gain control, trying to tell her   
body that it was an illusion.  
  
Desperate not to make a sudden move and spook the thing into   
attacking, Sailor Moon tried to pull her arm free of the web. She   
needed a means of defense or escape should the thing attack, for,   
illusion or not, it meant her no good. She remembered the pain of the   
illusionary fire and sensed she was in for more if that thing attacked.   
If only she had the Crescent Wand - - but it was back in the dungeon,   
trapped under the spell of Ctesias. Then it hit her. When her mother   
had been Sailor Moon, she'd also used her tiara as a weapon. Sailor   
Moon strained to pull her right arm free. If only she could reach the   
tiara, she could have something to fight back with. But the web would   
not release her. Mercilessly it kept her cemented in place.  
  
And suddenly the spider moved for her. Despite its size, it was   
upon her in an eye-blink. The great black beast stood over her,   
engulfing her with its body, a body that felt all too real. Fangs   
poised over her chest, prepared to plunge into her flesh and inject its   
venom.   
  
Sailor Moon screamed in terror.  
  
Continued in Chapter 8 


	8. Dreamscape

BLOOD OF THE IMMORTAL,  
Chapter 8: "Dreamscape"  
  
By Bill K.   
  
She screamed long. She screamed loudly. She unleashed a primal   
expression of utter terror, any pretense of being anything other than a   
fifteen year old girl utterly over her head falling away like leaves in   
autumn. She screamed because in that moment she sensed that she was   
about to die and she didn't want to die. She had too many friends and   
too many things she loved and too many reasons to live. She screamed   
one long, terrible scream until her throat grew raw and threatened to   
cease functioning in protest. She screamed until she no longer had wind   
to scream with.  
  
And when nothing happened, Sailor Moon dared to open her eyes and   
look. She expected to see a huge black spider engulfing her, poised to   
strike. Instead, she was back in chains in the dungeon of Ctesias the   
sorceress.  
  
"It was an illusion," muttered Sailor Moon hoarsely, her features   
twisted in rage and embarrassment. "It was just another illusion."  
  
"Was it?" asked Ctesias mirthlessly.   
  
Sailor Moon looked up at her. She saw the coldly beautiful   
woman's gaze shift to her left shoulder. Sailor Moon followed it and   
glanced at her shoulder. Sticking there was a white patch of silken   
filament, not unlike that of a spider's web.  
  
Shakes overtook Sailor Moon's frame. Her eyes began to stare off   
at nothing in particular. She drew her knees to her chest and huddled   
there, trembling.  
  
"And that, Little Princess, is not even the worse I can do to   
you," Ctesias said. "Now what is the source of your power?"  
  
Sailor Moon ignored her. She sat on the floor, keening and   
trembling without acknowledging anything or anyone.  
  
Ctesias sighed in disappointment. "I do so hate it when they go   
catatonic," she scowled. "It's no fun torturing them anymore." She   
turned and walked away. "I shall return, Little Princess, when you are   
more fit company." And she vanished like a dream before reaching the   
door.  
  
"Maiden?" Helios asked with growing concern. Sailor Moon did not   
respond, save that her lower lip began to tremble. "Maiden, it is over.   
You are safe for now." Still there was no response. "Maiden?"  
  
"Truly this woman is fearsome indeed," Evionne remarked. "I fear   
for us all."  
  
"I fear for Sailor Moon most of all," Helios said. "Evionne, I   
fear she is in need of help only you can provide. She is in the state   
caught between sleep and waking, and I fear she is afraid to come out.   
You must enter her dreams."  
  
"Enter her dreams?" gasped Evionne, the mere idea being clearly   
unpleasant to her. "Chosen One! You cannot ask me to do that!"  
  
Helios looked down sadly. "There was a time when the Evionne I   
once knew would not have thought twice about doing such a thing. I do   
not ask solely because I love her and I am concerned for her safety and   
well being. I ask because she is the key to all of our safety and well   
being. I am saddened that you do not see that."  
  
Evionne looked away with regret. "Forgive me, Chosen One. I fear   
I am not your equal in many things, least among them charity and   
forgiveness."  
  
"I see that," Helios replied gently. "It does not mean it will   
ever be so, dear Evionne. I selected you among all of Elysian to   
succeed me when I leave my post and that was for a reason. You have so   
much potential, Evionne, potential you do not even realize exists. It   
is my fondest wish that some day you realize this potential and   
obliterate all memories of me among our people with your own   
brilliance."  
  
Evionne glanced at Sailor Moon, still huddled against the wall.   
  
"You exaggerate, Chosen One," she said contritely. "I fear that   
is only your second fondest wish. Still, your words have properly   
shamed me."  
  
Evionne knelt down so she was eye level with Sailor Moon. The   
pink-tressed girl still stared out at nothing in particular.  
  
"Princess," Evionne said, trying to attract her attention.   
"Princess." Scowling, she slapped her hand down on the stone floor.   
"Princess!"  
  
Gaining no response, Evionne reconsidered her position. Suddenly   
she pulled one of her sandals from her feet and flung it through the   
bars of the cage at Sailor Moon. The sandal struck her sharply across   
the forehead near her left temple. Startled, Sailor Moon looked at her,   
fearful of another attack. And in that moment, Evionne became   
wraith-like. She slipped through the bars and dived headlong through   
Sailor Moon's eyes.  
  
"Princess?" Evionne called.  
  
She was in a land of bubble-gum pink skies and verdant grassy   
hills. Gentle breezes wafted across the hillside, suggesting springtime   
and life beginning. This was Princess Usagi's normal vision of the   
world: hopeful, optimistic, gentle and fun. It gave Evionne another   
pang for despising such a girl for so long. However, the longer she   
stayed in this place, the more she recognized that something was wrong.  
  
It was deserted. No life, no friends, and most of all no sense of   
Princess Usagi's self. There was a stillness and barrenness to the   
place that grew more eerie by the moment.  
  
Summoning her wings, Evionne pushed into the sky and covered the   
land by air. She searched high and low for some sign of life, some sign   
of Usa. She also searched for some sign of the trauma Princess Usagi   
had undergone, for that dark stain would be in her psyche just as these   
happier times were.  
  
And then, something to her right that wasn't grass. It was a   
being - - or at least the Princess's mental image of some being. She   
angled off toward the person. As she neared the man, she instantly   
recognized him.  
  
"Chosen One," she smiled, then remembered he was only Usa's image   
of Helios. Helios was in his human form and, though Evionne didn't   
think it possible, he seemed even taller and more beautiful than she   
remembered. Landing, she went up to him. "I search for the Princess   
Usagi. Have you seen her?"  
  
"No, Evionne," Helios replied, his voice so charming that Evionne   
was hard-pressed not to throw herself into his arms. "She is not with   
me. Why do you search?"  
  
"She faced a great trauma in the waking world and has retreated   
into herself. I must find her and draw her out."  
  
"How childish of her," commented Helios. Evionne was taken aback.   
Helios would never say such a demeaning thing, about anyone let alone   
his great love. And yet, The Princess thought it possible. "Perhaps   
she is not worthy of my love after all." Helios leaned in against   
Evionne, his hand caressing her cheek. "Perhaps I should have chose   
you, dear Evionne."  
  
Evionne's breath shuddered in her throat. To feel his touch in   
such a way, to hear those words spoken was the culmination of all her   
dreams. If he kissed her, she would gladly die, for nothing else that   
could happen in her life would be as sweet.  
  
"I," Evionne struggled to say, "I am sorry, Chosen One. I must   
go."  
  
Tearing herself away, the girl launched herself into the air. She   
didn't look back. She couldn't - - not and continue if he was still   
there, beckoning to her. With more distance between her and him,   
Evionne was better able to grasp what had happened.   
  
"She fears me?" wondered Evionne. "The Chosen One has practically   
prostrated himself and his love before her and still she fears one day   
he will throw her over for me? Can she not see the abject adoration in   
his eyes? I can scarcely believe it."  
  
These thoughts were set aside when Evionne spotted the outline of   
a structure in the distance. Flying toward it, she saw the structure   
was a brilliant crystalline palace, stretching up into the heavens so as   
to dwarf a normal-sized person. The palace gleamed like diamonds in   
sunlight, the light occasionally striking a particular facet and being   
prismed into a wondrous rainbow. Hovering, Evionne ran her hand along   
the wall and felt the smooth cool surface. She had never seen anything   
like it. As she moved, the jeweled wall danced with stray bands and   
flecks of color. It was a dazzling sight. No one human could have   
possibly constructed such a wonder. It was the most breathtaking thing   
she'd ever seen.  
  
"Hi," a happy voice said to her. Evionne turned and saw a woman   
in a window of the crystal palace. She had brown hair pulled in a   
ponytail, large kind eyes and a happy smile.   
  
"You are Makoto Kino," Evionne whispered.  
  
"Right," grinned Makoto. "Have we met?"  
  
"No," Evionne said, flying over. "I recognize you from the   
dreamscopes back on Elysian. I have witnessed some of your dreams."  
  
"Really," Makoto said, unperturbed or offended. "I hope I didn't   
bore you. Anything I can do for you?"  
  
"I search for the Princess Usagi," Evionne said, landing on the   
windowsill and venturing in. There she saw three other women she   
recognized as Ami Mizuno, Rei Hino and Minako Aino.  
  
"Usa?" Makoto asked. "Great kid."  
  
"She's so full of life," smiled Ami.  
  
"She's so energetic," grinned Minako.  
  
"The girl amazes me sometimes," added Rei.  
  
Evionne waited for one of them to suggest her whereabouts.  
  
"Of course, she'll never come anywhere close to her mom," Rei   
said.  
  
"True. She's just not good enough," Minako agreed.  
  
"She tries," Ami sympathized. "But trying isn't enough."  
  
"Yeah, sooner or later you have to live up to people's   
expectations," Makoto said. "Otherwise you're a failure."  
  
Evionne stared at them in shock. Was this how they really felt   
about the Princess? Or was this how she felt about herself? Evionne, a   
stranger for much of her life to self-doubt, struggled to comprehend how   
someone who had accomplished so much in her life - - for when Helios   
didn't talk endlessly about it, it seemed Candide did - - could consider   
herself a failure.  
  
"T-The Princess?" Evionne stammered, struggling to remember her   
mission. "Have you seen her?"  
  
"No," Rei replied sadly. "And we miss her. I wish she'd come   
back to us."  
  
"Yeah, she's really fun to play with," Minako giggled.  
  
"I see," whispered Evionne. "Then, do you know of any areas of   
darkness nearby? Areas where the light does not go?"  
  
"Yes," Ami said. "There is a place I noticed appeared recently.   
It's off in that direction," and she pointed off to the horizon. "If   
you're going to go there, please be careful. I don't think it's a very   
pleasant place."  
  
"I do not imagine it would be," Evionne said. Turning, she thrust   
herself out the window and into the pink sky.  
  
As she flew, Evionne felt more of the shame she felt earlier   
creeping up on her. It had been so easy to hate the Princess when she   
could be perceived as a spoiled, arrogant little trollop of privilege.   
But to see this, combined with the abject loyalty demonstrated to her by   
the Chosen One, by Sailor Saturn and even by the thrice-cursed Dead Moon   
criminals now hiding out as her senshi, made Evionne lose much of her   
anger. Perhaps all those soothing words the Chosen One and the Lady   
Candide had tried to impart upon her were true. She had refused to   
listen, because they had not made the awful sting of rejection stop.   
  
But neither had her hatred. Her sister, Ravonna, had warned her   
such a thing would happen, but she'd been too angry and hurt to listen.   
And through it all, the Princess had tried again and again to befriend   
her, even though Evionne now knew she was still feared as a rival for   
the Chosen One's affections. How small Evionne felt. How petty and   
childish.  
  
The sky began to turn as she flew, changing from a pink so sweet   
that her teeth ached to a deep, foreboding violet. The grass   
disappeared, replaced by barren earth black as onyx. Allowing herself a   
moment's trepidation, Evionne ventured on.   
  
It was a nightmare realm. All sentient creatures possessed them.   
It was the cluttered little room in the brain where all the traumatic   
events of their lives were stored, from great tragedies to the smallest   
hurt and the simplest slight. Each stood ready to poison an   
unsuspecting dream, changing it into a vile nightmare. Evionne   
shivered. She had seen far worse in her time on Elysian, but no   
nightmare realm was ever pleasant.  
  
In the midst of the darkness and swirling wraith-like emotional   
specters, though, was a beacon of brilliance. Curious, Evionne angled   
over to it. As she landed, she was taken aback. The source of the   
brilliance was a woman. Her resemblance to the Princess Usagi was   
uncanny and for a moment Evionne thought she had stumbled onto the Ego.   
Then she realized the woman had to be the fabled Queen Serenity herself.   
  
It was unreal. Serenity shone in the inky darkness like a sun.   
So brilliant was she that Evionne's eyes hurt to look upon her.   
Serenity hovered in the air as if the very earth itself was too profane   
to bear such an exalted person. She radiated and more than just light.   
She radiated a sense of calm, of peace and tranquillity beyond the scope   
of even mythical beings like the Chosen One.  
  
"Queen Serenity?" Evionne ventured timidly, fearing she would be   
struck down for daring even to speak to one so high-borne.   
  
Serenity looked down with a smile of infinite charity. She   
lowered herself to the earth. Where her bare foot touched, beautiful   
flowers grew. Serenely she clutched her hands to her breast.  
  
"Yes, Evionne," she spoke, Serenity's words a lyrical melody that   
instantly sent Evionne's ears into spasms of delight.  
  
"I," she began, "forgive me, your majesty. I search for your   
daughter, the Princess Usagi. Please, do you know where she is?"  
  
At the mention of her daughter's name, Serenity grew distressed   
and bowed her head. The flowers seemed to wilt ever so slightly in   
sympathy.   
  
"My daughter - - she who is my greatest love," Serenity said   
sadly, "and my greatest failure."  
  
"Your majesty," gasped Evionne. "Forgive me, but how can you say   
this?"  
  
Wordlessly she gestured behind her. A spot was illuminated and   
Evionne looked. It was Serenity, asleep as if dead and encased in a   
huge crystal that could double as her coffin. The Elysian looked first   
at the sight and then at Serenity, confusion clear on her face.  
  
"She is a very talented girl, as one would expect of one who is my   
daughter," Serenity said kindly. "She is audacious and gambles much.   
When she succeeds, she is the stuff of legends and almost worthy of   
being my successor."   
  
Suddenly Serenity whirled around. Her back was another Serenity.   
This one was venomous and cruel, imperious and unforgiving.  
  
"When she fails," hissed Serenity, "galaxies crumble and billions   
fall into death and ruin!"  
  
Evionne stared in shock, unable to comprehend what she saw.   
Serenity whirled again, the serene side showing again.  
  
"She is a kind and loving soul," smiled the good Serenity.  
  
"She is a selfish, worthless brat!" snarled the bad Serenity.  
  
"She is the pinnacle of my existence," sighed the good one.  
  
"She is the millstone that holds me down!" barked the bad one.  
  
Round and round Serenity spun, alternately stopping on the good   
one and the bad one. Each time the queen would say something nice or   
nasty about her daughter. It continued on until Evionne's head hurt.   
Reluctantly, the woman launched up into the air and flew on.  
  
Evionne wanted to leave. The deeper she penetrated Princess   
Usagi's psyche, the more her opinion of the girl changed and the more   
she wanted to quit. She was becoming too intimate with the Princess.   
It was more than she bargained for. What she was seeing was too   
personal.  
  
"Courage," she told herself. "If you ever succeed The Chosen One,   
you will need to see things like this. That is the purpose of the   
Chosen One of Elysian. You cannot oversee the dreams of others if you   
flinch from the first one you encounter."  
  
A motion caught Evionne's eye. Someone on the ground was waving  
at her. As Evionne neared, she realised it was the Princess's image of  
Sailor Saturn. Like before, the image was skewed through the memories  
and feelings of the Princess. That would explain why a peculiar glow  
resembling a halo seemed to hover over Saturn's head and her uniform  
glowed like a new day.  
  
"Sailor Saturn," Evionne began, landing near the senshi. "I   
search . . ."  
  
"Evionne, please!" Saturn pleaded desperately. "Usa's in terrible   
trouble! You have to help her! Please! I would if I could!"  
  
"Where?" gasped Evionne. "Do you know where she is?"  
  
Saturn pointed into a particularly dank and forboding part of the  
nightmare realm.  
  
"She's in there! Please hurry! I couldn't bear it if I lost Usa!   
She's the best friend I've ever had! She needs help!" To calm Saturn  
as much as carry out her mission, Evionne moved to go, nodding her  
assurance that she received the message. "And please don't blame her!"  
Saturn called after Evionne. "It's not her fault!"  
  
Evionne nodded and launched into the air again. It was   
interesting, she noted, how close her mental image of Saturn's behavior   
mirrored what she had observed in reality. Theirs must be a true and  
deep friendship for the Princess to see it in such clear and true terms.   
The nightmare realm loomed around her as she searched. Evionne could  
sense she was close, but there was no sign of her. Where was she?  
  
Finally she spotted twin rabbit's ears of twisted pink hair   
peeking up from behind a stone slab. Relieved that her journey might at   
last be over, Evionne angled down to the ground.  
  
"Princess Usagi," she began, walking around the stone to the   
front. "I am glad I finally found . . ."  
  
Evionne stared in surprise once again. This Princess Usagi was   
four years old. She huddled, crying mournfully, atop a grave, her   
tearful face pressed to the headstone. Chibi-Usa's eyes shifted to   
Evionne and she tensed fearfully.  
  
"Go away!" the child begged tearfully. "Leave me alone!"  
  
Evionne knelt down to the child. Chibi-Usa pressed against the   
marker.  
  
"You want to hurt me, too! Leave me alone, please!"  
  
"No, Princess," Evionne choked out. "I wish to help you."  
  
"How? The only ones who can help me are Mommy and Daddy," sobbed   
the child. "And I can't get to them anymore! I can't find them! I   
can't even find Luna-P! And even if I could . . ."  
  
The child glanced at the gravestone. Evionne shifted to look at   
it. It read "Sailor Pluto".  
  
"If only I were a lady, like Mommy," lamented the girl.  
  
"You are," whispered Evionne. "You are a fine lady, a lady of   
great character and great standing. You are a lady so great that she   
has - - has won the love of the greatest prince the universe has ever   
known."  
  
Chibi-Usa stared at her, afraid to believe.  
  
"And you must become that lady again. It is the only way you will   
get home."  
  
Chibi-Usa's reply was a fearful shake of her head. She pointed up   
above them. A figure grew illuminated. It was Chibi-Usa in her teenage   
form of Sailor Moon, nearly mummified in white spider silk. The girl   
struggled in the silk in futility, trying with little hope to escape its   
sticky embrace.  
  
"She is not trapped forever," Evionne told the four-year-old.   
"You can free her. You have the power."  
  
"No!" wailed Chibi-Usa. "The spider'll get me! It almost got me   
once! I can't!"  
  
A hand pressed to Chibi-Usa's cheek. She looked up through her   
tears and saw Evionne's sympathy.  
  
"That is why I am here," Evionne said. "I will protect you from   
the spider, should it appear."  
  
"You will?" Chibi-Usa asked.  
  
"Yes. Together we will defeat it." She held out her hand. "Now   
come, child. It is time you acted like the lady you are."  
  
"My Mommy told me that once," Chibi-Usa murmured. Then she nodded   
and took Evionne's hand.  
  
Spreading her wings, Evionne lifted them up into the air, up to   
where Sailor Moon struggled. She placed Chibi-Usa on Sailor Moon.  
  
"How do we get her loose?" Chibi-Usa asked.  
  
"Pull at the webs," Evionne told her. "Combine your strength with   
hers. Do not fear becoming entangled. Together, you can burst the   
bonds that hold you back."  
  
Chibi-Usa's response was a terrified shriek. Evionne whirled and   
saw a huge black spider lunging at them. Desperately she whipped her   
wings at the arachnid, raking at its eyes with her feathers. The spider   
fell back, only to lunge several more times, attempting to get through   
the wings. Chibi-Usa shrieked again and began crying.  
  
At once, the spider saw an opening and attacked. Evionne fell   
back and shot out with her arms, catching the front legs in her hands as   
her wings fenced with the second pair. The spider's fangs reached for   
Evionne's chest, inches short of plunging its venom into her.  
  
"We can't do it, we can't do it!" wailed Chibi-Usa as Sailor Moon   
squirmed frantically beneath her.  
  
"Believe, Princess!" bellowed Evionne. "Belief is the source of   
your power! Believe and you will succeed!"  
  
Chibi-Usa stared, trembling, as Evionne desperately held the   
spider at bay. Finally she turned and began pulling at the web   
encompassing her future self. Harder the child tugged, exerting all the   
might her tiny body could manufacture. Her tears began anew, her sobs   
taking on a new tone of desperation.   
  
And the silk parted. The cocoon weakened, and as it did Chibi-Usa   
was able to pull more away. Partially freed, Sailor Moon was able to   
exert her strength and further rip the web. Together the pair pulled   
and tugged until Sailor Moon stood free. She scooped Chibi-Usa up into   
her arms and, with the child balanced on her hip, produced the Crescent   
Moon Wand.  
  
"Moon Healing Escalation!" Sailor Moon cried. The wand flared   
bright pink and the energy discharged obliterated the spider. Evionne   
turned and, with a sigh of relief, gazed at the pair.  
  
"You did very well, child," Evionne smiled. Chibi-Usa, hugging   
her older self, gave Evionne a timid smile, then vanishing into Sailor   
Moon. "Come, Princess. Our fight is not over yet. We must still free   
the Chosen One."  
  
Evionne started to fly off, her hand joined to Sailor Moon's.   
However, Sailor Moon held her back. The Elysian turned, questioning.   
  
"Evionne," Sailor Moon said humbly. "Thank you."  
  
Unable to vocalize her thoughts, lest she betray her emotions,   
Evionne merely nodded.  
  
Continued in chapter 9 


	9. Ashes To Ashes

BLOOD OF THE IMMORTAL,  
Chapter 9: "Ashes To Ashes"  
  
By Bill K.  
  
The universe was her playground. Every time she loosened her   
spirit form from her corporeal and sent it wafting around the heavens,   
Ctesias learned something new. She'd seen new worlds born and old   
worlds die. She'd seen simple carbon and oxygen spark and form cells,   
though the reason why still eluded her. She'd seen miracles galore.   
She'd even performed her share. Every time she traveled the universe,   
bathing in stars and floating through the mystic ley lines that ran   
through reality, she felt the power and longed for it.  
  
And realized, from time to time, a truth that turned every heart   
fluttering sensation into ashes. No matter how much she knew, how much   
power she gained and how many things she learned, she was still   
insignificant in the scope of the universe. Her teeth clenched and her   
eyes burned as she entered her body.  
  
"Rrrrrr," the moab in her lap said. Ctesias stroked the feline's   
back.  
  
"You need not worry," Ctesias smiled. "I shall not punish you.   
You know just how to make me feel good." Her eyes narrowed. "It is the   
universe I will one day humble. One day I will hold it in my palm and   
it will dance to my whim."  
  
"RRRRRRRR!" screeched the moab. Ctesias noticed she was squeezing   
the back of the feline's neck. She released her grip and the animal   
bounded away.  
  
"I'm sure it didn't hurt that much," smirked the sorceress.  
  
"It was quite painful," pouted the feline, "and I gave you no   
cause!" The moab eyed her suspiciously.  
  
"Very well, if you insist on being aggrieved," and she waggled her   
finger.   
  
On the other side of the room, a small rodent from outside   
appeared. Instantly smelling the moab even as the feline crouched to   
attack, the rodent streaked off across the floor in search of cover. As   
he felt the thunderous pursuit of the moab behind him, the rodent   
wondered if he would ever see his mate or litter again - - or the   
strange god he'd met who called herself Sailor Pallas.  
  
Ctesias watched, anticipating the slaughter with calm   
satisfaction. Then the tower spoke to her, informing her of something   
happening in another part of the building she was psychically attuned   
to. Frowning petulantly, Ctesias allowed her form to fade to nothing.   
* * * *  
Grasping the hand of Sailor Pallas, Sailor Juno and Sailor Ceres   
passed effortlessly through the wall and into the interior of the tower.   
Sailor Vesta, who had hopped a ride on the senshi's shoulder, flew off.  
  
"That was . . ." gasped Juno quietly. "Pallas, how do you do   
that?"  
  
Pallas shrugged blankly.  
  
"This part is even creepier than where we met that sorceress,"   
Ceres remarked uneasily.  
  
"It's probably loaded with potential danger, too," Juno said.   
"Everybody needs to stay close, understand? Pallas, I need you to   
listen for stray thoughts. Maybe we can get an early warning of   
approaching danger or some clue where Sailor Moon and the others are."  
  
"But when Pallas tries to listen for them, the thoughts don't   
come," Pallas explained, disappointed in letting her sister down.  
  
"I know, honey," Juno told her, kneeling down to her. "I didn't   
mean try to pick up a thought. I want you to really concentrate on   
hearing any thoughts that might come. I don't want you to let your mind   
wander and maybe miss one. Can you do that for me?"  
  
Pallas nodded earnestly. "Pallas will really concentrate. She   
promises."  
  
"So where do we go now?" Ceres asked.  
  
"If 'fly-girl' were stronger up there, I'd let her track them.   
But I don't want to risk it. She's still probably too weak to walk."   
Juno looked around in frustration. "I guess we just search and try not   
to let anybody know we're here." Ceres looked at her dubiously. "You   
have a better plan?"  
  
"Yeah, but it ends up with me back in the palace with my head   
under the covers," Ceres scowled. "Somehow I don't think you're going   
to go for it."  
  
Juno motioned them ahead. The three girls eased down the darkened   
corridor, their senses alert to any possible sign of danger. Vesta flew   
ahead to scout. The darkness seemed to loom around them, crouching like   
a thing alive. Juno knew Ceres and Pallas were scared. She was scared,   
too, but she didn't have the luxury of displaying it as they did. They   
depended on her to be their rock of strength, their leader by example,   
almost their surrogate parent. It was a burden she accepted without   
complaint, for nothing meant more to her than her sisters and nothing   
got her ire up faster than seeing one of them threatened or mistreated.  
  
"Oh no!" gasped Pallas suddenly. Juno moved to shush her, but she   
saw the wide-eyed look of dismay on the girl's face.  
  
"What is it?" she asked.  
  
"Me's in trouble!" she wailed. "Pallas has to help him!"  
  
With that, the girl took off in a dead run down the hall. Juno   
tried to grab her and pull her back, but missed.  
  
"Pallas!" Juno hissed, not wanting to call too loudly. Pallas   
ignored her and kept running, disappearing through a door. "Come on!"  
  
Juno and Ceres ran after her, recklessly pursuing the girl down   
the dark hall. They could hear Vesta buzzing overhead, trying to keep   
up. Unmindful of the possible danger, Juno crashed through the door,   
Ceres and Vesta hot on her heels.  
  
Towering over them was a twenty-foot tall dragon. It looked down   
at Juno and Ceres and emitted an indignant roar.  
* * * *  
Helios watched his love, Sailor Moon, with concern. His   
concentration on her outward signs was total, completely ignoring the   
throbbing of his broken right hind leg. She sat there, still fettered   
to the wall, her legs pulled to her chest. The girl stared down at the   
ground, seeing but not noticing anything around her. He wanted to call   
out to her again, but knew it was pointless.  
  
There was nothing else he could do but be there for her. Evionne   
had entered Sailor Moon's mind, once that mind had reached the   
semi-conscious dream-state. She was the only one who could do anything   
now, beyond Sailor Moon herself. Helios trusted Evionne. She knew her   
way around the dream-state. Her experience would aid Sailor Moon in   
returning to reality. He had faith in Evionne's innate goodness to put   
aside her dislike for Sailor Moon long enough to rescue her. He had   
faith in Sailor Moon's inner strength and courage which, given the   
chance, would allow her to return from the terrible shock she'd endured.  
  
All Helios could be right now was a beacon, a shining light for   
Evionne to use to find her way back. He would not fail them, either   
Evionne or his beloved Maiden. His mind used what little power he could   
muster to be that beacon and lead them home.  
  
And at once Sailor Moon began to stir. Her eyes began to glow   
with a golden energy. Through that energy, Evionne emerged, growing and   
reforming before them both. Her wings spread out to their furthest   
length as she crossed her breast with her arms and ever so delicately   
set foot onto the cold stone floor. Evionne's wings folded back into   
her and disappeared. She took a deep breath and brought her head up,   
eyes opening to the dim light of the room.  
  
"Maiden?" Helios asked of Sailor Moon. She continued to look   
down, her pink bangs dangling in her eyes. Her chest heaved. For   
several tense moments she didn't speak. Evionne turned curiously to   
her, fearing her charge had lost herself along the way or perhaps had at   
the last moment retreated again.  
  
"I'm back," Sailor Moon whispered. "I'm sorry for letting you   
both down. Sorry for being such a coward."  
  
"The specter of imminent death can make cowards of us all,"   
Evionne replied kindly. She moved to Helios, her intent to free him   
from his chains. "So, too, can the type of death we face." She turned   
to Sailor Moon. "You must have more faith in yourself, Princess. You   
are far greater than you seem to think." Helios smiled proudly at   
Evionne - - as much as a Pegasus could smile, anyway.  
  
"Thanks," Sailor Moon said contritely. "You know, I'm always   
jumping everybody else about not having any faith in me. I may be the   
worst offender of them all." She watched Evionne struggle with the lock   
on the collar around Helios' neck. "Why'd you do it, Evionne? I mean   
I'm grateful, but I know I'm not your most favorite person.  
  
Evionne wouldn't look at her. "Because it was the right thing to   
do. To my shame, it had to be pointed out to me." She fiddled with the   
collar some more. "And I misjudged you, Princess. I was blinded to   
many of your good qualities by my hurt and anger. I," and she faltered.   
"It would do me great honor if - - if one day I could name you as - -   
well, as friend." She flashed Sailor Moon a timid smile. "Perhaps not   
this very moment, but some day." Sailor Moon returned the smile with   
one of her own.  
  
"I doubt you have that much time left," came a voice. Evionne   
whirled and saw Ctesias materialize in the room. "Once more you abuse   
my hospitality. I see sterner measures are in order."  
  
Left with no other option, Evionne lunged at the sorceress. Her   
wings spread out and her fingers reached for the woman's throat in a   
kamikaze attack. Ctesias, though, was quicker. Her hand came up, all   
fingers extended.  
  
An invisible force struck Evionne. She had time to cry out once   
before all the flesh was stripped from her body. Her muscles and organs   
evaporating quickly followed. Finally her bones seemed to mutate into   
ash and collapsed to the floor from there own weight. It took all of a   
single second.  
  
"NO!" wailed Sailor Moon. Helios flinched as if knifed, his head   
lurching away and his eyes averted. When he looked back at her, he was   
grief-stricken.  
  
"Do no grieve for her, little Princess," Ctesias spat out. "She   
is the lucky one. I can do nothing more to her. She is beyond even my   
reach now."  
  
A burning rage smoldered in the eyes of the young Sailor Moon.   
She glared daggers at her tormentor, this specimen of pure evil. Her   
mouth was pulled into a thin line. Her arms were drawn taut against her   
shackles. She was oblivious to all that surrounded her, all save the   
smug and haughty Ctesias.  
  
And, appearing from a warp in space directly over Sailor Moon's   
chest, came a many-faceted crystal that glowed with a stunning pink   
brilliance.  
* * * *  
The rodent dubbed "Me" by Sailor Pallas frantically ran along the   
wall of the corridor. He felt the vibrations of the vicious moab behind   
him. The scent of the great feline overwhelmed his nostrils. Twice   
he'd narrowly escaped the swing of a paw or a lunge. His little heart   
pounded in his chest. He searched in vain for some place that would   
offer protection from the great feline. There was nothing.  
  
A blow from a swung paw struck his hindquarters and knocked Me off   
his feet. Desperately the rodent tried to get up and run, but the   
feline was upon him in moments. The great killer's weight held him   
down. Me had seconds, if that, to live before the feline's jaws snapped   
down on his head and ended his life. Struggling to live, the rodent   
tried to squirm out from under the paws that held him.  
  
"Beautiful Incantation!" Me heard, like a clarion call of   
deliverance from heaven.  
  
A force struck the moab, driving the wind from its body while   
whipping it roughly from atop the rodent. Me heard the feline land   
hard, then looked up and saw Sailor Pallas running up.  
  
"BAD KITTY!" snapped Pallas. She sank to her knees before Me.   
"Mr. Me Sir, please don't be dead!"  
  
"Goddess Pallas," wheezed the rodent, struggling to his feet.   
"You have saved me from the great killer! I . . ." and Me seemed to   
reel. "I have no words . . .!"  
  
"It's all right," Pallas smiled, gently stroking the rodent.   
"You're supposed to help people when they're in trouble. That's what   
Queen Serenity always tells Pallas. And Pallas just knows she meant   
mousies, too."  
  
A shift in scent and a flash of movement told Me that the moab was   
up. He turned, Pallas following his line of sight. Sure enough, the   
moab was crouched about sixteen feet from them. The beast seemed unsure   
whether to run or attack.  
  
"Pallas doesn't like you!" Pallas roared at the moab. "You better   
not hurt Mr. Me Sir or Pallas will make you sorry!"  
  
The tone seemed to make the feline decide. It sprang forward,   
bounding twice along the floor and then leaping up at them, fangs and   
claws bared.  
  
"Beautiful Incantation!" Pallas yelled, pointing at the moab. An   
invisible force swatted the beast like a racket striking a tennis ball.   
The moab struck the hard floor and skidded, coming to a stop only when   
it struck the molding with terrible force. The beast didn't move.  
  
Pallas gently gathered Me up in her hands and brought the rodent   
to her breast.  
  
"Pallas will help you get home, Me. She promises," Pallas told   
him. "Only Pallas has to find the Princess first." Pallas began to   
look forlorn. "Only thing is, Pallas doesn't know where to look."  
  
"Perhaps I can help?" offered the rodent. "I detect several   
scents, none of whom are either the Evil One or moabs. They can only be   
your friends, for I know of no others who have come to the towers and   
smell this way. Clearly since you are a god, such things are beneath   
your notice. I will lead you to them if you wish."  
  
"You'd do that for Pallas?" Sailor Pallas asked, surprised and   
happy.  
  
"After what you have done for me?" Me replied, stunned by her   
attitude. "Need you even ask?"  
  
Pallas beamed proudly at him. Following the rodent's directions,   
Pallas headed off down the dark corridor. However, she gave one last   
glance back at the moab. It still lay where it landed.  
  
"Pallas hopes she didn't hit the kitty too hard," Pallas grimaced.  
* * * *  
"Is that the dragon we saw her create?" Juno wondered aloud. The   
dragon glared at them, as if wondering why they were still there.  
  
"Who cares, Juno!" hissed Ceres. "That thing's going to barbecue   
us inside of two seconds! Now would be a really good time to do   
something!"  
  
"I don't feel any water present," Juno replied, her eyes on the   
dragon the entire time. "And I don't see any plants, so I'm open to   
suggestions."  
  
Before Ceres could respond, Vesta's fly form began to enlarge. As   
the dragon looked on curiously, her body elongated, filled out, and grew   
leathery wings and a long, spine-studded tail. When she finished   
changing, there were two dragons in the room.  
  
"Go on!" Vesta roared down to them. "I'll hold this guy off!   
Find the Princess!"  
  
"But Vesta!" gasped Juno. "Are you well enough to handle that   
thing?"  
  
"Not much of a choice!" Vesta called back. The dragon, in a fit   
of territoriality, lunged at her and their smaller forearms locked   
together in a contest of strength.   
  
"Vesta, that thing could kill you!" cried Ceres.  
  
"Didn't know you cared," grunted Vesta, struggling to hold off the   
healthier foe. Each dragon's tail swung, trying to wound the other,   
while his or her wings flapped at the other's face.  
  
"I DON'T!" spat Ceres. "But if you die, Pallas and Juno are going   
to be really hurt!"  
  
"Well," Vesta gasped out as she strained to fend off her opponent,   
"a lot more people are going to be upset if the Princess dies! It's a   
fair trade! Now get going!"  
  
The pair started to leave, but stopped when a wicked tail shot   
caught Vesta across the back haunch. Off balance, she was easy prey and   
the dragon flung her to the floor. His fangs were bared instantly as he   
leaped onto the fallen Vesta. The face of the dragon lunged forward,   
but Vesta managed to catch the dragon by the throat with both forelegs.   
This left her vulnerable to all the other weapons at the dragon's   
command, but his teeth were aimed at her throat and that took   
precedence. Juno lingered, torn between her mission and her desire to   
protect her "family". Ceres tugged on her arm.  
  
"Come on!" Ceres cried. "She's right, damn her! We have to find   
the Princess! Come on, Juno!"  
  
With a sound akin to a woeful sob, Juno allowed herself to be   
dragged from the room.  
* * * *  
"You - - murdered her!" Sailor Moon said, her voice quavering with   
seething anger and righteous indignation. "You - - cowardly . . .!"   
  
"Maiden!" Helios thought sharply, a tone of warning in his mental   
voice. "Calm yourself, I beseech you. This is not the way."  
  
"Helios!" Sailor Moon fumed. "Evionne was just - - she just   
killed Evionne right before our eyes! Doesn't that mean anything to   
you?"  
  
"More than you can know, my Maiden. But you must beware! You   
must not surrender to the righteous hatred you now feel! To do so will   
lay you bare before Ctesias! You will fall into her trap!"  
  
With the speed of a cobra, Ctesias struck. Her hand shot out and   
a bubble of mystic energy closed around the pink jewel that hovered in   
front of Sailor Moon's chest. Sailor Moon cried out as if the hand of   
the sorceress were closing around her heart. A deep, numbing cold   
spread through her entire body. It was a cold that threatened to engulf   
her, to suck the life from her and leave her an empty husk.  
  
"So," trumpeted Ctesias, mad with lust for power, "this is the   
source of your power, little Princess! GIVE IT TO ME!"  
  
continued in Chapter 10 


	10. Unity In The Face Of Evil

BLOOD OF THE IMMORTAL,  
Chapter 10: "Unity in the Face of Evil"  
  
By Bill K.  
  
The pain seared through her. Sailor Moon struggled to hold on, to   
keep from blacking out. She knew that if she lost consciousness and   
allowed Ctesias to rip the Pink Crystal from her, Helios and everyone   
else were lost.  
  
"This is your unique crystal," she recalled Diana telling her the   
day she returned from the twentieth century and showed her the Crescent   
Moon Wand. "The crystal in your wand is a manifestation of the more   
powerful crystal that has always resided in you. It is the source of   
your power, the thing that feeds you and feeds from you."  
  
"But I always thought I was going to inherit the Silver Crystal,   
just like Mama," she remembered asking the supple gray cat. And she   
remembered the proud smile Diana gave her.  
  
"If the time comes, you shall, My Lady," Diana told her. "But you   
possess even more than your mother or father in the way of potential,   
for you are the sum of them both. Your Pink Crystal is the potential   
sum of the Silver Crystal of Queen Serenity and the Golden Crystal of   
King Endymion."  
  
"You mean I could be more powerful than Mama?" she recalled   
asking, then gulping to clear a suddenly constricted throat. "More   
powerful than Pop?"  
  
"More powerful than both," smiled Diana. "But that, of course,   
depends upon you."  
  
"What do I have to do?"  
  
"Your very best, My Lady," the cat replied and even now Usa   
thought she wasn't saying everything she knew.  
  
So it was paramount that she keep hold of it. The Pink Crystal   
was the only thing that could stop Ctesias. As she struggled to hold   
on, Sailor Moon managed to pry an eye open. She expected to see   
Ctesias, grim with fury or cold and mocking, gleeful over the misery she   
was inflicting upon a simple teenage girl who wanted to be with her love   
and her friends. Ctesias was grim with fury, all right, but there was   
more. She could see pain in the woman's face, as if her efforts to   
snatch the crystal were hurting her as much as it hurt Sailor Moon. It   
was a fleeting moment's satisfaction gained.  
  
"You spiteful . . ." Sailor Moon began, then had the thought cut   
short by another searing jab of pain that cut through her chest. It   
ripped a loud groan of agony from her and now it was Ctesias's turn to   
feel satisfaction.  
  
"Maiden!" she heard Helios call out to her with his mind. "You   
must be calm! You must be at peace!"  
  
The words barely had time to sink in before a new player entered   
the fray. Lunging suddenly into her line of sight was Sailor Juno. She   
was perched on the back of the sorceress, one arm wrapped around the   
woman's throat and the other snapped across her forehead. There was no   
boast from Juno's mouth. There was no demand to retreat or surrender.   
There was only single-minded determination, focused on the thought of   
twisting Ctesias's head until her neck snapped. Sailor Moon couldn't   
recall ever seeing Juno that angry.  
  
Not that it mattered. Grinding her teeth with rage, Ctesias began   
to take on a red-hot glow. Though clearly burning, Juno hung on and   
continued to apply pressure. Undaunted, Ctesias increased her intensity   
until even Sailor Moon could feel Juno's flesh burn. Juno hung on until   
she no longer had the strength, then fell away from the sorceress. She   
lay on the floor, ugly burns on her chest and arms and the white on her   
fuku horribly scorched. Instantly Sailor Ceres was by her side.  
  
"Doesn't it matter how much pain and suffering you cause?" howled   
Ceres. "Isn't there anyone or anything more important than you and your   
goals?"  
  
In response, Ctesias waved her hand dismissively at Ceres and   
Juno. A force akin to a speeding car struck them and drove them into   
the far wall. Ceres collapsed onto the still unconscious Juno and went   
silent herself.  
  
"No!" grunted Sailor Moon through clenched teeth. Her rage began   
to well up again.  
  
"That is not the way," Helios pleaded with her. "Clear your mind   
of anger and hatred."  
  
"Give me the crystal, little Princess!" demanded Ctesias. "I can   
do to you what I did to your companions! You can't stand up against my   
power!"  
  
Sailor Moon only clenched her jaw harder. Every word out of   
Ctesias's mouth now was like sandpaper on her nerves. She wanted oh so   
desperately to cram every utterance and every unkind deed down this   
woman's throat and watch her choke on it. But it seemed to be a losing   
battle. Every moment the struggle lasted seemed to weaken her and   
strengthen Ctesias. The pain was unendurable. It even seemed to drown   
out the thoughts Helios kept trying to project into her mind.  
  
"You will fall before me, little girl," Ctesias said, her eyes   
blazing with rage and lust for power. "And when you do, I have so many,   
many exquisite tortures to subject you to! You will know pain and   
suffering the like you have never experienced before!" She gazed deeply   
into Sailor Moon's eyes and the girl shuddered. "And while you linger   
between agonies, I will torture your companions as well! You will hear   
their screams and their pleas for mercy until you will beg your creator   
to strike you deaf!"  
  
Sailor Moon stared up at her and knew she meant every word of it.   
It only made her desperation to succeed even greater, but it only seemed   
to weaken her even more. Ctesias saw this and licked her lips.  
  
"I find your fear quite tasty, little Princess," Ctesias sneered   
in contempt. "The doubt in your heart is a pleasant appetizer as well!   
How much longer can you hold out?"  
  
Ctesias tugged on the spell holding the crystal and drew another   
cry from Sailor Moon. The agony tore through Sailor Moon. Tears stung   
her eyes. Breath came harder and harder to her. She clung to the Pink   
Crystal with everything she had. If only the searing pain would stop.   
She couldn't take anymore.  
  
"Beautiful Incantation!" came the desperate plea, ringing through   
the room.   
  
Sailor Moon peered up through eyes half closed. From every side   
Ctesias was being pummeled by invisible fists. Every blow she took   
seemed to lessen the pain Sailor Moon felt. The sorceress seemed unable   
to fight back, unable to direct a counterattack. The pummeling   
continued and some small sense of hope began to grow within Sailor Moon   
that Pallas could succeed where each of them had failed. Then she saw   
Ctesias begin to gather herself and the fear, and the pain, returned.  
  
Striking quickly, summoning unguessed reserves of power, Ctesias   
lashed out with her hand. Across the room, Sailor Pallas was caught   
around the throat by an invisible force and lifted up into the air.   
Legs pin-wheeling, she dangled five feet in the air, clutching at her   
throat.  
  
"You dare hurt me?" rumbled Ctesias as Pallas struggled helplessly   
before her. Sailor Moon tried to pull the crystal from the grip of the   
mystic bubble, but Ctesias, when concentrating, could divide her   
attention and power quite adequately. "You and your band of gutter   
rabble have the audacity to think you can hurt me?"  
  
Her hand turned in the air, two fingers crooked. Ctesias made a   
pulling motion and the room was filled with the terrified shriek of   
Sailor Pallas. Pallas' face wrinkled as her mouth extended to its   
fullest and beyond. Her teeth appeared to bow out beyond her lips,   
followed by something curved and white. Sailor Moon could scarcely   
believe what she saw. It was too horrible to contemplate. Ctesias   
seemed to be trying to pull the very skeleton of Pallas out through her   
mouth.  
  
Sailor Moon strained to reclaim control of the Pink Crystal,   
desperate to do something to save Sailor Pallas. She could feel it give   
some. Ctesias's grip had weakened, probably because she had so much   
energy focused on Pallas. Apparently even she had limits. Sailor Moon   
fought to exploit that. She had to reclaim the crystal and she had to   
do it in time to save Pallas.  
  
And all the while, it seemed she could hear Helios' voice, but it   
was too faint to understand.  
  
"I will not tolerate such temerity any longer!" Ctesias raged as   
Pallas writhed in pain. "I am Ctesias, supreme of this and all worlds!   
I am the one destined to know all there is to know and rule all there is   
to rule! That is my will and my legacy! My will shall not be thwarted,   
least of all by a band of children! Now . . .!"  
  
Suddenly Ctesias recoiled. Her concentration broken, she let   
Pallas crash to the floor. There was no outward evidence of the girl's   
ordeal save for the pitiful sobbing that wracked the senshi as she   
curled up into a fetal position. Ctesias bent down, her free hand   
clutching at her ankle. She looked and saw the deep red gash oozing   
precious blood onto the floor. Her eyes darted forward and spotted a   
simple brown rodent scampering to Sailor Pallas, remnants of her own   
flesh clutched in its mouth.  
  
In that same moment, Sailor Moon felt her pain subside and the   
grip of her foe weaken on her Pink Crystal. Too, she heard Helios loud   
and clear again. She turned to him and they locked eyes.  
  
"Maiden," he said firmly. "You are my love and my life. You are   
also Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon does not hate. You are the guardian of   
love and justice. Heed my words, Maiden. Your anger dilutes your   
power. Cast it out! Your hatred stains your soul, the source of your   
great ability. Cast it out! Only by forgiving her can you hope to end   
this."  
  
"I can't!" Sailor Moon replied with her eyes, a response Helios   
read all too clearly. "After everything she's done? I-I can't!"  
  
"You must," Helios mentally told her firmly, locking her eyes to   
his with his inner strength. "You will. I could not love someone who   
could not."  
  
Though he meant that she possessed a well-spring of charity that   
even she was unsure of, Sailor Moon interpreted his challenge in a far   
different manner, as a threat to their very relationship. A chill ran   
down Sailor Moon. If everything prior to this was a deadly fate, this   
to her was a fate worse than death.   
  
Frantically she thought, searching her mind until she hit upon her   
love for Helios, the very love that was now threatened in her eyes. She   
focused on it, on how he made her feel, on how much he meant to her and   
how much he completed her. She thought of her parents, Serenity and   
Endymion and, despite their endless petty squabbles, how they were a   
sense of comfort and solace like no one else could be. She thought of   
Hotaru, of the way the shy girl accepted her without judgment, of how   
she could tell Hotaru anything and feel safe, and how much making the   
girl smile made her smile.  
  
And she asked herself what was more important - - this or anger   
and revenge?  
  
"I forgive you," Sailor Moon whispered as she hung from the   
manacles on the wall. Ctesias turned to her, wide-eyed with   
astonishment. The Pink Crystal began to glow more brightly.   
  
"W-What are you saying?" she croaked out.  
  
"You must be so lost and lonely," Sailor Moon continued. "I   
didn't understand at first, but now I see. You've spent so much time   
acquiring power, lusting after it, and trying to prove your   
superiority that you haven't spent any time on anything else."  
  
"What else is there?" scowled Ctesias.  
  
"Do you have any family? Do you have any friends? Do you have   
anyone you can love?"  
  
"What do I need with that?"  
  
"If you'd like, I'll be your friend. But please, stop lashing   
out. Stop hurting other people. You won't want to if you try to see   
the good in them."  
  
Ctesias looked down at Sailor Moon as if she'd crawled out from   
under a rock.  
  
"You little fool," she sneered and with a final powerful tug   
ripped the Pink Crystal away. "You don't deserve this crystal."  
  
Bereft of the crystal, Sailor Moon collapsed back against the   
wall. She was barely conscious, feeling at life's low ebb. She glanced   
over at Helios in confusion through eyes hazed over with red. The   
equine looked back, stoic and unworried.  
  
"How fitting that I use your own power crystal to rid you from my   
sight!" Ctesias blustered. Ctesias sundered the mystic bubble holding   
the Pink Crystal and allowed it to float down into her palm. "Say   
good-bye to your lover, my captive unicorn."  
  
Raising the crystal above her head, Ctesias mentally locked onto   
the energy within and commanded it to blast Sailor Moon to atoms. The   
energy of the crystal reacted, but not as she expected. Instead, it   
snapped at her like an angry animal. Caught off guard, Ctesias   
flinched. In that moment, the inadequacy of her soul and the evil of   
her ways caught up with her. Starting with the hand that held the   
crystal aloft, Ctesias began to grow white as a sheet, for the crystal   
was drawing the life's blood from her body, the very blood of the   
immortal. Her eyes popped in alarm and she opened her mouth to bully   
the crystal into obeying, but nothing came out.  
  
She tried to command it. Nothing happened, so she tried to beg   
it. She tried to fling it away. Nothing worked. Nothing seemed   
capable of saving her. Finally she stopped trying when there was   
nothing left of the great and terrible sorceress Ctesias but a dry,   
bloodless husk. A shift in the air of the room exploded the husk into   
dust.  
  
Sailor Pallas sat up, her eyes still overflowing with tears. Me   
stood by her side, staring up at her hopefully. She looked around for   
Ctesias, but saw nothing. Then she saw Sailor Moon.  
  
"Princess!" wailed Pallas. She stumbled over to the girl's side   
and saw she was still collapsed against the wall. Her hands went to her   
mouth and she was all set to weep anew.  
  
"Calm yourself," Helios said, his equine form shimmering into that   
of a human again. "She will be fine momentarily."  
  
Pallas turned to see the Pink Crystal floating down to Sailor   
Moon. The jewel hovered over her chest, pulsating with pink energy.   
After a moment's hesitation, it sank down into her chest until it   
disappeared. With that, Sailor Moon revived. She eased herself up   
against the wall she was still shackled to and looked at Helios. She   
seemed numbed with shock.  
  
"She's dead?" Sailor Moon asked in a small voice.   
  
"Yes, Maiden," Helios said, doffing the fetters that were now too   
big for him. "The crystal draws its power from the soul of the   
possessor. Her own emptiness ultimately consumed her. That is why your   
own power dipped when your soul was clouded with anger and hatred."  
  
"Oh, Helios, you're free!" she cried and tried to hug him, only to   
be held back by her shackles. "Oh, these blasted chains!"   
  
"Let Pallas help you, Princess," Pallas said. "Beautiful   
Incantation," and she wiggled her finger at the lock. The shackles   
jiggled on Sailor Moon's wrists, then opened and fell off. Sailor Moon   
lurched at Helios and fell into his arms, squeezing him tight.  
  
"I thought we were all goners!" Sailor Moon exclaimed. Pallas   
looked on happily.  
  
"You only needed faith in the way of peace, Maiden," Helios told   
her. "Plus a timely intervention from the smallest of us all." And he   
nodded to Me.  
  
"Me!" squealed Pallas. "You saved us all! Oh, thank you so   
much!"  
  
"You have shown me the path, Goddess Pallas," the rodent replied.   
"I could do nothing else."  
  
"Is she talking to that mouse?" Sailor Moon whispered to Helios.  
  
"Of course, Maiden," teased Helios. "Can you not hear him speak   
to her?"  
  
Sailor Moon looked away in chagrin and her vision caught sight of   
Sailor Saturn, frozen in stone. She grimaced and was about to summon   
her Crescent Wand. Suddenly they heard a wail from Pallas at the far   
end of the room. She raced over and instantly recoiled.  
  
"Juno!" sobbed Pallas, her hands flying to her mouth. "Princess,   
please help her!"  
  
"Wow, those are some nasty burns," mumbled Ceres, focusing for the   
first time on them as she pulled herself up. "We have to do something!"  
  
"I will," Sailor Moon said. She retrieved the Crescent Moon Wand,   
then took a deep breath. "Moon Healing Escalation."  
  
Pink dust came from the wand as she waved it over Sailor Juno. As   
the particles touched the raw skin, the wounds began to close. With   
more particles, the wounds began to recede until there were no blemishes   
on Juno's skin at all. Juno let out a very contented sigh. It almost   
sounded like "refresh". Her eyes opened and she sat up. It took only   
one glance at Sailor Moon to realize what had happened.  
  
"Thank you," Juno said earnestly and with a hint of embarrassment.  
  
"Hey, you got them trying to save me. I should thank you.   
Besides, us senshi got to stick together," grinned Sailor Moon. Then   
she reeled a little, with Helios supporting her despite his balancing on   
a single healthy leg. "Whoa, that takes a little out of a person."  
  
"Perhaps then, you should wait a bit before tending to Sailor   
Saturn," suggested Helios.  
  
"No," Sailor Moon said sharply and pulled away. She marched over   
to the stone statue that had once been her best friend. Biting her lip,   
she caressed the statue's cheek. Then she took a steadying breath and   
raised the Crescent Wand. "Moon Healing Escalation!"  
  
Pink particles showered the statue. Nothing changed at first.   
Doggedly Sailor Moon kept it up, determined not to falter. After   
several tense moments color began to slowly infest the dull gray of the   
stone. Life funneled back into the cold, lifeless statue, delivered by   
the pink particles from the wand. Though it took far longer than Sailor   
Moon would have liked, Sailor Saturn slowly returned to her true self.   
When it was finished, she sank to her knees, propped up by her glaive.  
  
"Ohhh," Saturn groaned. "I could see and hear everything that was   
happening! Oh, it was so . . .!" Sailor Moon sank to her knees next to   
Saturn. "Sailor Moon!"  
  
In an instant, Helios was by her side, cradling her against his   
scarred chest. Saturn looked to him with concern.  
  
"She has pushed herself to her limits," Helios said. "She must   
rest or she risks death." He massaged her forehead with loving care.   
"Rest, my Maiden. You have done more than your share." Noticing that   
Saturn was staring at him, Helios looked at her and smiled. "You are   
her friend, Hotaru." Saturn nodded. "She talks about you quite   
frequently. I am Helios."  
  
"She talks about you a lot, too," smiled Saturn. "I can see why."  
  
"Evionne," mumbled Sailor Moon. "Still have to - - try to save   
. . ."  
  
"No, my Maiden," Helios said softly, cradling her head to his   
chest. "Poor Evionne is beyond even your power now. To even attempt to   
resurrect her would claim your life without bringing her back whole."  
  
"But I have to try," Sailor Moon whimpered weakly.  
  
"No, Maiden. As loathe as I am to lose Evionne, I will not lose   
you both."  
  
"It's not fair," Sailor Moon mumbled as she drifted off to sleep.  
  
"You two up to a search?" Juno asked Ceres and Pallas. "We've   
still got to find Vesta. She may need our help."  
  
"Or she may not," panted Sailor Vesta. She leaned against the   
door. Her legs were wobbly, she carried multiple wounds and was clearly   
worse for wear.  
  
"Vesta!" gasped Ceres, running to support the girl. "How'd you   
get away from that dragon?"  
  
"How else? I fought dirty," Vesta said. She tried and failed to   
pull away from Ceres, then surrendered and leaned on the girl. She shot   
Juno a wink. "That dragon is going to be singing soprano for a while,   
too. Poor stiff never knew what hit him. Is the Princess OK?"  
  
"Yeah," smiled Juno. "Mission accomplished. One of these days   
I'm going to learn to stop worrying about you."  
  
"I was never worried," huffed Ceres. "You're too nasty to die."  
  
"Ceres!" Pallas barked. "You better stop that! The Queen says   
your nose is gonna grow if you lie!"  
  
"Oh, be quiet!" Ceres shot back. Vesta chuckled hoarsely.  
  
Concluded in Chapter 11 


	11. Return To Elysian

BLOOD OF THE IMMORTAL,  
Chapter 11: "Return To Elysian"  
  
By Bill K.  
  
After allowing Sailor Moon some time in the towers to recuperate   
her strength, she, her love and her senshi, together with the brave   
rodent who helped them, ventured out. With Ctesias dead and gone, there   
was no one with magic to open a portal in the wall or make a bridge over   
the moat. Therefore, Sailor Saturn was forced to make a rather   
permanent portal with her glaive and, with some concentration, Sailor   
Pallas formed a bridge over the moat with her telekinesis.   
  
"Wow!" gasped Sailor Ceres as they reached the other side. "You   
can tell that old witch's influence is gone already!" Ceres scampered   
over to a patch of moss. Bright yellow flowers were blooming amid the   
gray moss. Nearby, the tree that before had been so rude to her had   
leaves and pastel violet blossoms. Ceres knelt down to the flowers and   
lightly stroked them with her hand. "They're thanking us!" she grinned.   
"They're grateful to us that Ctesias is gone!"  
  
"And she makes fun of Pallas for talking to rodents," Juno leaned   
over and whispered to Vesta.  
  
"Helios," sighed Sailor Moon as her love cautiously supported her   
with his arms around her waist, despite his own injury, "I'm all right.   
Really I am!"  
  
"I sense this to be so," Helios smiled gently. "Still, it gives   
me great pleasure to hold you, Maiden. I hope you would not be so cruel   
as to force me to relinquish this."  
  
Sailor Moon gave him a misty look. "Oh, you are such a smooth   
talker," and she leaned in and lightly kissed him. "Cute, too." They   
embraced again, this one longer and more passion-filled.  
  
"A-HEM!" Juno said loudly.  
  
"OH, MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!" snapped Sailor Moon and kissed   
Helios yet again just to spite her.  
  
"Even the color of the sky is changing," Saturn smiled. "One day   
this world may be a paradise."  
  
"Maybe we should come back and visit," Ceres shrugged. "Thing is,   
there's a paradise already waiting for us and I for one am more than   
ready to explore it. If everybody's up to it, I think we better go."  
  
"Fine with me," Sailor Moon grinned. "I can't wait to see the   
look on Candide's face when she sees Helios." At the thought of   
Elysian, she remembered Evionne and grew melancholy. "I just wish all   
of us were coming back."  
  
The senshi gathered in a circle around Helios.  
  
"Pallas, you've got to put your rat down!" Ceres scowled. "It   
can't come with us!"  
  
"But Pallas wants to take Me home to the palace!" whined Pallas,   
the rodent cupped to her breast.  
  
"You can't, Pallas honey," Juno told her, kneeling down so they   
were at eye level. "It's never a good idea to take an animal from one   
environment to another. It can cause all sorts of problems."  
  
"But Me won't hurt anybody," Pallas protested.  
  
"Besides, he's probably got a wife and a whole litter of babies.   
You don't want to take him away and leave them all orphans, do you?"  
  
Tears began to sprout in Pallas' eyes. She thought about it for a   
few moments, then walked off a few steps and set the rodent on the   
ground.  
  
"Pallas is sorry, Me," Sailor Pallas said, crouching down to the   
rodent. "She wants to take you with her, but she can't."  
  
"Do not weep," Me replied. "I would not be worthy to tread on the   
ground that is home of gods. Fear not, Goddess Pallas. I shall never   
forget you. And I will tell all I know and all I meet of the day the   
gods descended unto us and freed us from the yoke of the Evil One. And   
my children shall tell the tale, as will their children. You and your   
fellow gods will never be forgotten."  
  
"Oh," sobbed Pallas. "You're such a nice mousie! Pallas is going   
to miss you!" Gently she stroked Me on the top of his head.  
  
At Juno's silent urging, Pallas rejoined the circle. All six   
senshi joined hands and began to concentrate on Elysian. The jewels on   
their tiaras began to glow. Wind and dust began to whip around them in   
a circular pattern. Hair and skirts flew up as the vortex sent the dust   
and debris skyward. At the precise moment, they all called out "Sailor   
Teleport!" and the dust cloud engulfed them. When it dissipated, they   
all were gone. Me stood and watched for several more moments after they   
had vanished.  
  
"There you are!" another rodent gasped, coming up to Me. This one   
was a female. "I feared a moab had eaten you! Where have you been?"  
  
"Walking with gods," Me softly sighed.  
* * * *  
The whirlwind of air and dust spun on the marble floor of the   
altar of the moon in Elysian. It dissipated, revealing six senshi and a   
chosen one to the gathered.  
  
"Helios!" cried Candide. She ran over to him and hugged her son   
to her breast, grateful tears streaming down her face. "Oh, my son,   
you're alive and you've been returned to me!" She squeezed him to her   
again. Helios made no effort to escape. Though it was tight, her   
embrace was not uncomfortable. "Princess Usagi, thank you! Oh, thank   
you! But I don't understand! You only left moments ago!"  
  
"We did?" Sailor Moon asked.  
  
"Hey, that means we've still got our whole vacation left!" grinned   
Vesta.  
  
"Time moved at a different pace for us, Mother," Helios told her.   
"It was part of the evil magic of the one who took me."  
  
"Oh, Helios!" Candide gasped in horror. "Those scars on your   
chest! Your leg! What did they do to you?"  
  
"Wounds of a battle hard fought, Mother," Helios said gently. "I   
am otherwise intact." He looked down. "Mother - - Father is dead. I   
have seen his bones. It grieves me to tell you this, but at least now   
you may put your wonder to rest."  
  
"You tell me nothing I did not already know, Helios," Candide   
replied sadly, "in my heart. I am just grateful that the beast that   
took my love from me did not take my son as well."  
  
Out of the corner of his eye, Helios spotted Ravonna. The woman   
stood stoically to the side, outwardly calm even though she had eyes and   
could count. Pulling from his mother's grip, Helios limped over to her.  
  
"I am grateful that the Chosen One has returned to us," Ravonna   
said formally. There was a note of sadness to her tone.  
  
"I thank you, Ravonna," Helios said. "I grieve for you, as well.   
Evionne is dead." A muffled gasp ran through the assembled.   
  
"I know, Chosen One," Ravonna said distantly. "I saw it all in   
prophecy. I knew when she left that she would not return." Ravonna   
seemed to falter for a moment, then regained control. "I rejoice that   
she and the Princess were able to make peace - - before she was taken."  
  
Helios gathered Ravonna into his arms and they hugged, each trying   
to keep the other's pain at bay. Every head bowed.  
  
"This is truly a time for quiet reflection," Candide spoke at   
last. "Everyone, please go to your families. We will honor our fallen   
sister tomorrow. Then we will have all month to honor the Princess   
Usagi and her senshi for their brave and valiant efforts on our behalf.   
Ravonna, you are welcomed to stay with us should you desire it."  
  
"I thank you, Great Mother," Ravonna bowed. "I must refuse. I   
must commune with the spirit of my dead sister so she may extract the   
pain that now lives in my heart. Such a thing is best done alone."  
  
Ravonna glided up the steps to Sailor Moon. She gently cupped the   
girl's face in her hands and respectfully kissed her cheek.  
  
"Thank you for your efforts on behalf of my sister," Ravonna said.   
"Had she half of your strength and will, she might yet live." And   
Ravonna turned and walked away - - alone.  
* * * *  
Candide and Helios gathered all the people of Elysian upon a hill   
overlooking the temples to honor the memory of Evionne. Sailor Moon and   
her senshi were there. Also among the mourners were horses, birds and   
other creatures that inhabited Elysian. Sailor Saturn watched them   
curiously during the ceremony, for they seemed to be ordinary animals,   
and yet slightly more. Sailor Pallas watched them as well with the   
wide-eyed wonder of a delighted child.  
  
Helios no longer walked with a limp. Overnight Sailor Moon had   
used the Crescent Moon Wand to heal his broken leg. At first he   
demurred, but relented in the face of the extremely insistent Princess.   
Afterward, she grew woozy and had to be supported by Helios. He gently   
gave her an "I told you so". Since she was securely ensconced in his   
arms, Sailor Moon didn't seem to mind in the least.  
  
As everybody watched or listened with head bowed, Candide spoke   
eloquently of Evionne and her brilliant work as the Temple Maiden and   
right hand of Helios. Helios then related her courage and valor on the   
barren rock Cartaghos that had been home to Ctesias. He turned to   
Sailor Moon and she managed to relate a few mumbled words of praise and   
regret before crumbling into tears. As a symbolic gesture, Helios   
gathered a handful of dirt from the top of the hill. He lifted his hand   
high over his head and opened it. Everyone watched the breeze catch the   
dirt and scatter it to the valley below.  
  
As they climbed down the hill, Helios turned to the senshi.  
  
"If any before doubted your true intentions to reform," Helios   
said to them with his gentle, easy manner, "none can do so now. As our   
honored guests, please feel free to go anywhere in Elysian and do   
anything you wish for as long as you wish."  
  
"Gear!" grinned Vesta.  
  
"Are you sure?" Juno asked. "So soon after the service for   
Evionne? I don't want to seem disrespectful to anyone."  
  
Helios smiled. "How considerate of you to think that way. None   
will see that as disrespect. We will never forget Evionne, but Elysian   
is a realm of life and of dreams. You will honor all she stood for and   
fought for by living and fulfilling your dreams. Now may I be of   
assistance with anything?"  
  
"Pallas wants to play with the horsies," Pallas whimpered.  
  
"And so you shall," Helios smiled. He pointed down the hill to a   
pond by a thicket of trees. There was a small band of horses watering   
there. "Do you see those horses? Long have they pined to meet just   
such a girl as you. You would give them great pleasure if you would go   
to them."  
  
Pallas grew a smile so wide it threatened to burst from her face.   
She looked to Juno for permission. Juno nodded and the girl scampered   
off toward the horses.  
  
"Uh," Ceres began. "Is it OK if I just go exploring a little?   
You've got the most wonderful glades of wild flora I've ever seen."  
  
"Wander to your heart's content," Helios nodded. "All of Elysian   
is at your disposal."  
  
"Wild," grinned Ceres. "I'll be back by dinner, guys." With   
that, she headed for a nearby thicket of trees and wildflowers.  
  
"And you?" he asked Juno.  
  
"Well," Juno hesitated. "I would like to go swimming, but I don't   
want to disturb Pallas and the horses down there."  
  
"Do not fear," Helios said. He pointed off in the opposite   
direction and another, larger pond could be seen. "This pond feeds that   
one, and it is quite suitable for swimming."  
  
Juno's face lit up. "Wow, it's like you read my mind!"  
  
"Isn't it," Helios smiled cryptically. Juno gave him a curious   
look, but didn't pursue the matter.  
  
"Vesta, you want to come along?" Juno asked.  
  
"Uh," Vesta replied, her eyes locked on the people filing away   
from the ceremony. In particular, she was looking at a very lean and   
youthful looking male with dark hair and soft features. "Maybe later.   
Um, Helios, pardon me for asking, but - - do you know if that guy over   
there is seeing anyone?"  
  
Helios glanced over, then looked back with a smile. "To my   
knowledge, he is not. And his name is Leviticus."  
  
"That's all I wanted to know," Vesta said with a hopeful smile.   
She immediately headed for the group at a leisurely pace.  
  
"She's so easy to please," smirked Juno. "How about you, Saturn?"  
  
"I was never much for swimming," demurred the girl. "You go   
ahead." Juno shrugged and headed for the pond. Saturn glanced at   
Sailor Moon and could tell from the girl's look what her desire was.   
"You two probably don't want me hanging around." Saturn then got an   
inspiration. "Do you have a library or something with the history of   
Elysian?"  
  
"Seek out Ravonna," Helios told her. "She is the keeper of all   
that has occurred in Elysian. And my mother can regale you for days   
with stories of the history of this realm. And I think each would be   
grateful for the company."  
  
"I'll do that," smiled Saturn. "Thank you." She turned to Sailor   
Moon before she left. "Be good," she warned playfully.  
  
"Party poop," Sailor Moon grumbled playfully.  
  
"And I think I know what you wish, My Little Maiden," Helios   
grinned.  
  
"Oh, am I that transparent?" Sailor Moon smiled back.  
  
"Utterly so."  
  
"Then what are you waiting for?" Sailor Moon asked, an eyebrow   
arched.  
* * * *  
The chestnut horse sped through the grasses of the Elysian valley,   
the wind in its black mane and joy in its heart. Astride its back,   
cackling happily, rode Pallas. She and the horse galloped past Ceres,   
who was reclining dreamily amid the wildflowers, taking in the sweet   
scents and rocking softly to the haunting melody the flowers were   
singing to her. It was a melody only she was privy to. From the bank of   
the pond, Juno watched Pallas pass. It did her heart good to see her   
sister so happy - - almost as much good as the dip in the cool water.   
Pushing away, Juno flipped back under the surface to return to being a   
naked water nymph for a little longer.  
  
The path of the horse and rider carried them past a tall tree.   
Beneath the tree was Helios with Sailor Moon cradled in his arms. Their   
heads rested against one another and, to the casual observer, it would   
seem they slept.  
  
"Does it hurt?" Sailor Moon asked. She gently touched the   
vicious scar across the chest of her love with her gloved hand. His   
shirt was pulled backto reveal it and it seemed pale and ugly next to   
the pink bow of her fuku.  
  
"No, Maiden," Helios replied gently. "Particularly when your   
touch is introduced."  
  
"My Dad warned me about smooth talkers like you," smirked Sailor  
Moon. "Fortunately I don't listen to my Dad."  
  
"Or anyone, to my observence," teased Helios. Sailor Moon shot  
him a playful scowl, then pressed to his body.  
  
"I don't want to wait," Sailor Moon whispered as she gently eased   
her gloved hand under her love's shirt and lightly caressed his chest.   
"I want to get married now." Her skirt fell away from her legs as they  
lightly rubbed against her love's thigh, feeling the fabric of his pants   
against the skin.  
  
"Good things come to those who wait, My Little Maiden," Helios   
whispered and kissed the top of her head.  
  
"Whoever came up with that saying was never in love," she   
grumbled. "And when are you going to stop calling me that? That may   
have been all right when I was twelve, but I'm fifteen now and I'm not   
so little anymore."  
  
"That I can see quite plainly," Helios said, nuzzling her ear.   
"Forgive me if I vex you, my love, but no matter how much you grow, I   
shall never see you as anything but My Little Maiden."  
  
Sailor Moon sighed. "Well, I guess there are worse fates in the   
world." She snuggled into her love's chest some more. "I wish I could   
wave my Crescent Wand and make myself eighteen. Then we could get   
married today."  
  
"Always you are in such a hurry to grow up," Helios said as he   
stroked her bangs with his fingers. "You should cherish these years, My   
Little Maiden. They shall be gone before you realize and you shall pine   
for them for many years after they are past."  
  
"You sound just like Pop," she frowned. Then she turned her face   
up to his. "But you're cuter - - by maybe that much," and she held her   
thumb and forefinger barely apart.  
  
"Only that much?" Helios asked, an eyebrow raised.  
  
"My Pop's a real handsome guy," Sailor Moon grinned. "And boy can   
he wear a tux." She leaned up until their lips were barely apart. "But   
you're a whole lot more kissable."  
  
The young pair kissed long and hard, their passions sending their   
minds into a swirl of delight, draining all thought from them except the   
feel of the other against their mouth and their body. They parted   
reluctantly, their breath heavy with lust and stimulation.  
  
"Boy, I wish we were married," Sailor Moon whispered into Helios'   
mouth.  
  
"Maiden," he replied, struggling with desires of his own.  
  
"I know," she gasped. "I remember my promise. I'll stop now."  
  
She kissed him again.  
  
"This is me stopping."  
  
She kissed him again.  
  
"This time for sure."  
  
She kissed him again.  
  
"No, really, this time for sure."  
  
She kissed him again.  
  
"I absolutely mean it this time."  
  
She kissed him again.  
  
"A-HEM!"  
  
"All right, Ceres!" Sailor Moon growled. They heard a twittering   
giggle in the wildflowers behind them.  
  
"Your senshi seem ever ready to come to the aid of their   
Princess," Helios smiled as he hugged Sailor Moon tightly.  
  
"Yeah," scowled the frustrated princess, leaning back onto her   
lover's chest. "I don't know what I'd do without them."  
  
END 


End file.
